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In  July,  will  be  Published,  in  Five  Volumes,  Price  $5. 

THE  NOCTES  AMBR0SIANJ1; 

"With  Portraits  of  Wilson,  Lockhart,  Maginn,  Hogg,  and  fao-similes. 
EDITED,  WITH  MEMOIRS,  NOTES,  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

BY  DR.  SHELTON  MACKENZIE, 

Editor  of  Shxil's  "  Sketches  of  the  Irish  Bar." 


The  Noctes  were  commenced  in  1822,  and  closed  in  1835.  Even  in  England,  the  lapse 
of  years  has  obscured  many  circumstances  which  were  well  known  thirty  vars  ago. 

Dr.  Shelton  Mackenzie,  already  favorably  known  as  editor  of  Shell's  "Sketches  of 
the  Irish  Bar,"  has  undertaken  the  editorship  of  The  Noctes  Ambrosian^e,  for  which  a 
familiar  acquaintance,  during  the  last  twenty-five  years,  with  the  persons,  events,  and 
places  therein  noticed  may  be  assumed  to  qualify  him.  He  has  been  on  terms  of  intimacy 
with  most  of  the  eminent  political  and  literary  characters  treated  of  in  the  "  Noctes," 
and  his  annotation  of  the  text  will  include  personal  recollections  of  them. 

Besides  this,  Dr.  Mackenzie  has  written  for  this  edition  a  "  History  of  the  Rise  and  Pro- 
gress of  Blackwood's  Magazine,"  with  original  memoirs  of  the  principal  accredited  authors 
of  the  "Noctes,"  viz: — Professor  Wilson,  The  Ettrick  Shepherd,  J.  G.  Lockhart,  and 
Dr.  Maginn. 

He  will  also  give  the  celebrated  "  Chaldee  Manuscript,"  published  in  1817,  instantly 
suppressed,  and  so  scarce  that  the  only  copy  which  the  editor  has  ever  seen  is  that  from 
which  he  makes  the  present  reprint.  There  will  also  be  given  the  three  articles,  entitled 
"  Christopher  in  the  Tent,"  (in  August  and  September,  1819),  never  before  printed,  in 
any  shape,  in  this  country.  The  interlocutors  in  ''  The  Tent,"  include  the  greater  number 
of  those  afterwards  introduced  in  the  "  Noctes." 

The  "  Metricum  Symphosium  Ambrosianum," — an  addendum  to  No.  III.  of  "  The 
Noctes,"  (and  which  notices  every  living  author  of  note,  in  the  year  1822),  will  be  in- 
corporated in  this  edition.    This  has  never  before  been  reprinted  here. 


Nearly  Ready,  in  Two  Volumes. 

THE  ODOHERTY  PAPERS, 

forming  the  first  portion  of  the  miscellaneous  writings  of  the  late 

DR.    MAGINN. 

WITH  AN  ORIGINAL  MEMOIR  AND  COPIOUS  NOTES,  BT 

DR.  SHELTON  MACKENZIE. 


For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  the  most  remarkable  magazine  writer  of  his 
time,  was  the  late  William  Maginn,  LL.D.,  well-known  as  the  Sir  Morgan  Odoherty  of 
Blackwootfs  Magazine,  and  as  the  principal  contributor,  for  many  years,  to  Fraser^s 
and  other  periodicals.  The  combined  learning,  wit,  eloquence,  eccentricity,  and  humor 
of  Maginn,  had  obtained  for  him,  long  before  his  death,  (in  1843),  the  title  of  The 
Modern  Rabelais.  His  magazine  articles  possess  extraordinary  merit.  He  had  the 
art  of  putting  a  vast  quantity  of  animal  spirits  upon  paper,  but  his  graver  articles — which 
contain  sound  and  serious  principles  of  criticism — are  earnest  and  well-reasoned. 

The  collection  now  in  hand  will  contain  his  Facetiae  (in  a  variety  of  languages),  Trans- 
lations, Travesties,  and  Original  Poetry,  also  his  prose  Tales,  which  are  eminently  beauti- 
ful ,  the  best  of  his  critical  articles,  (including  his  celebrated  Shakspeare  Papers),  and 
his  Homeric  Ballads.  The  periodicals  in  which  he  wrote  have  been  ransacked,  from 
"  Blackwood"  to  "  Punch,"  and  the  result  will  be  a  series  of  great  interest. 

Dr.  Shelton  Mackenzie,  who  has  undertaken  the  editorship  of  these  writings  of  his 
distinguished  countryman,  will  spare  neither  labor  nor  attention  in  the  work.  The 
first  volume  will  contain  an  original  Memoir  of  Dr.  Maginn,  written  by  Dr.  Mackenzie, 
and  a  characteristic  Portrait,  with  fac-simile. 

Published  by  J,  S.  REDFIELD, 
110  &  112  Nassau-street.  New   York. 


redfield's  new  and  popular  publications. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  IRISH  BAR. 

By  the  Right  Hon.  Richard  Lalor  Sheil,  M.  P.  Edited  with 
a  Memoir  and  Notes,  by  Dr.  Shelton  Mackenzie.  Fourth 
Edition.     In  2  vols.     Price  $2  00. 

"  They  attracted  universal  attention  by  their  brilliant  and  pointed  style,  and  their  lib 

erality  of  sentiment     The  Notes  embody  a  great  amount  of  biographical  information, 

terary  gossip,  legal  and  political  anecdote,  and  amusing  reminiscences,  and,  in  fact, 

omit  nothing  that  is  essential  to  the  perfect  elucidation  of  the  text"— New  York  Tribune. 

**  They  are  the  best  edited  books  we  have  met  for  many  a  year.  They  form,  with 
Mackenzie's  notes,  a  complete  biographical  dictionary,  containing  succinct  and  clever 
sketches  of  all  the  famous  people  of  England,  and  particularly  of  Ireland,  to  whom  the 
slightest  allusions  are  made  in  the  text" — The  Citizen  (John  Mitchel). 

"  L\r.  Mackenzie  deserves  the  thanks  of  men  of  letters,  particularly  of  Irishmen,  for 
his  research  and  care.  Altogether,  the  work  is  one  we  can  recommend  in  the  highest 
terms." — Philadelphia  City  Item. 

"Such  a  repertory  of  wit,  humor,  anecdote,  and  out-gushing  fun,  mingled  with  the 
deepest  pathos,  when  we  reflect  upon  the  sad  fate  of  Ireland,  as  this  book  affords,  it  were 
hard  to  find  written  in  any  other  pair  of  covers." — Buffalo  Daily  Courier. 

"As  a  whole,  a  more  sparkling  lively  series  of  portraits  was  hardly  ever  set  in  a  single 
gallery  It  is  Irish  all  over ;  the  wit,  the  folly,  the  extravagance,  and  the  fire  are  al 
alike  characteristic  of  writer  and  subjects." — New  York  Evangelist. 

"  These  volumes  afford  a  rich  treat  to  the  lovers  of  literature." — Hartford  Christian  Set* 

A 

CLASSIC  AND  HISTORIC  PORTRAITS. 
By  James  Bruce.     12mo,  cloth,  $1  00. 

"  A  series  of  personal  sketches  of  distinguished  individuals  of  all  ages,  embracing  pen 
and  ink  portraits  of  near  sixty  persons  from  Sappho  down  to  Madame  de  Stael.  They 
show  much  research,  and  possess  that  interest  which  attaches  to  the  private  life  of  those 
whose  names  are  known  to  fame." — New  Haven  Journal  and  Courier. 

"  They  are  comprehensive,  well-written,  and  judicious,  both  in  the  selection  of  sub- 
|  jects  and  the  manner  of  treating  them." — Boston  Atlxvs. 

"  The  author  has  painted  in  minute  touches  the  characteristics  of  each  with  various 
personal  details,  all  interesting,  and  all  calculated  to  furnish  to  the  mind's  eye  a  complete 
portraiture  of  the  individual  described." — Albany  Knickerbocker. 

"  The  sketches  are  full  and  graphic,  many  authorities  having  evidently  been  consulted 
by  the  author  in  their  preparation." — Boston  Journal. 


*%. 


THE  WORKINGMANS  WAY  IN  THE  WORLD. 

Being  the  Autobiography  of  a  Journeyman  Printer.  By  Charles 
Manbt  Smith,  author  of  M  Curiosities  of  London  Life."  12mo, 
cloth,  $1  00. 

•'  Written  by  a  man  of  genius  and  of  most  extraordinary  powers  of  description." — 
Boston  Traveller. 

"  It  will  be  read  with  no  small  degree  of  interest  by  the  professional  brethren  of  the 
author,  as  well  as  by  all  who  find  attractions  in  a  well-told  tale  of  a  workingman."— 
Boston  Atlas. 

"  An  amusing  as  well  as  instructive  book,  telling  how  humble  obscurity  cuts  its  way 
through  the  world  with  energy,  perseverance,  and  integrity."— Albany  Knickerbocker. 

"  The  book  is  the  most  entertaining  we  have  met  with  for  months."— Philadelphia 
Evening  Bulletin. 

•'  He  has  evidently  moved  through  the  world  with  his  eyes  op»»n  and  having  a  vein 
of  humor  in  his  nature,  has  written  one  of  the  most  readable  doors  of  the  season  **— 
Zion's  Herald. 


redfield's  new  and  popular  publications. 


RUSSO-TURKISH  CAMPAIGNS  OF  1828  AND  1829. 

With  a  View  of  the  Present  State  of  Affairs  in  the  East.  By 
Colonel  Chesney,  R.A.,  D.  C.  L.,  F.R.  S.,  Author  of  the 
Expedition  for  the  Survey  of  the  Rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris. 
With  an  Appendix,  containing  the  Diplomatic  Correspondence 
of  the  Four  Powers  and  the  Secret  Correspondence  between  the 
Russian  and  English  Governments.  One  vol.,  12mo,  cloth; 
Maps ;  price  $1.00. 

"A  condensed  detail  of  facts,  and  the  result  of  personal  observation,  it  is  replete  with 
instructive  matter :  a  record  of  one  of  the  most  striking  events  in  modern  history;  a 

fuide  to  the  formation  of  correct  judgment  on  the  future.  Good  maps,  and  minute 
ascriptions  of  the  principal  seats  of  the  past  and  present  war;  a  statistical  account  of 
the  military  resources  of  Turkey;  its  present  state  and  prospects;  its  political  and 
commercial  value— occupy  an  interesting  portion  of  the  work,  which  we  heartily  recom- 
mend to  the  attention  of  our  readers."— London  Critic. 

"  It  fills  up  a  vacant  niche  in  the  history  of  the  times  which  seems  to  be  required  to 
give  a  proper  understanding  of  the  difficulties  which  have  resulted  in  the  present  Euro- 
pean war." — Springfield  Post. 

"  This  work,  which,  under  any  circumstances,  would  have  excited  great  interest,  ia 
worthy  of  special  attention  now,  from  its  relation  to  the  eastern  contest." — Albany  Argus. 

"  Though  abounding  in  information,  it  is  clear,  straightforward,  and  as  free  from  over- 
statement and  irrevelant  speculations  as  the  '  Commentaries  of  Caesar '  " — New  York 
Evening  Post. 


THE  RUSSIAN  SHORES  OF  THE  BLACK  SEA, 

With  a  Voyage  down  the  Volga  and  a  Tour  through  the  Country 
of  the  Cossacks.  By  Laurence  Oliphant,  Author  of  ••  A  Jour- 
ney to  Nepaul."  From  the  Third  London  Revised  and  Enlarged 
Edition.     12mo,  cloth;  Two  Maps  and  18  Cuts;  price  75  cents. 

"  The  latest  and  best  account  of  the  actual  state  of  Russia." — London  Standard. 

"  The  book  of  a  quick  and  honest  observer.  Full  of  delightful  entertainment." — Lon- 
don Examiner. 

"  Mr.  Oliphant  is  an  acute  observer,  and  intelligent  man,  a  clear  and  vigorous  and  suc- 
cinct writer,  and  his  book  embodies  the  best  account  of  Southern  Russia  that  has  ever 
appeared.    His  account  of  Sevastopol  will  find  many  interested  readers." — Boston  Atlas. 

"  This  book  reminds  us  more  of  Stephen's  delightful  '  Incidents  of  Travel'  than  any 
other  book  with  which  we  are  acquainted.  It  is  an  interesting  and  valuable  book.  Ho 
was  as  sharp  at  seeing  as  a  live  Yankee,  and  he  has  given  us  the  fruits  of  his  observation* 
in  a  very  graphic  and  interesting  style." — Boston  Traveller. 


il* 


A  YEAR  WITH  THE  TURKS; 

Or,  Sketches  of  Travel  in  the  European  and  Asiatic  Dominions 
of  the  Sultan.  By  Warrington  W.  Smith,  M.A.  With  a 
Colored  Ethnological  Map  of  Turkey.     12mo,  cloth ;  price  75  cts. 

"  Mr.  Smith  has  had  rare  opportunities.  Few  men  have  crossed  and  recrossed  the 
empire  in  so  many  direertions — and  many  are  the  errors,  the  false  reports,  the  miscon- 
ceptions as  to  fact  or  motive  which  are  here  corrected  by  an  able  and  impartial  wit- 
ness."— London  Athenaeum. 

"  One  of  the  freshest  and  best  books  of  travel  on  the  Sultan's  dominions."— New  York 
Commercial  Advertiser. 

"  The  reader  obtains  an  excellent  and  reliable  idea  of  the  actual  condition  of  the  peo- 
ple, of  the  mongrel  races,  and  the  present  state  of  the  Sultan's  dominions.  There  is  a 
vivid  interest  in  the  narrative,  and  abundance  of  real  information." — Boston  Transcript 


redfield's  new  and  popular  publications. 
SIMMS'  REVOLUTIONARY  TALES. 

UNIFORM      SERIES. 

New  and  entirely  Revised  Edition  of  William  Gilmore  Simms' 
Romances   of  the   Revolution,    with   Illustrations   by   Darley. 

Each  complete  in  one  vol.,  12mo,  cloth ;  price  $1.25. 

I.  THE  PARTISAN.  III.  KATHARINE  WALTON.  (In  press.) 

II.  MELLICHAMPE.  IV.  THE  SCOUT.  (In  press.) 

V.  WOODCRAFT.  (In  press.) 

"  The  field  of  Revolutionary  Romance  was  a  rich  one,  and  Mr.  Simms  has  worked  it 
admirably." — Louisville  Journal. 

"  But  few  novelists  of  the  age  evince  more  power  in  the  conception  of  a  story,  more 
artistic  skill  in  its  management,  or  more  naturalness  in  the  final  denouement  than  Mr 
Simms." — Mobile  Daily  Advertiser. 

"  Not  only  par  excellence  the  literary  man  of  the  South,  but  next  to  no  romance  writer 
in  America." — Albany  Knickerbocker. 

"Simms  is  a  popular  writer,  and  his  romances  are  highly  creditable  to  American 
literature." — Boston  Olive  Branch. 

"These  books  are  replete  with  daring  and  thrilling  adventures,  principally  drawn 
from  history." — Boston  Christian  Freeman. 

"We  take  pleasure  in  noticing  another  of  the  series  which  Redfield  is  presenting  to 
the  country  of  the  brilliant  productions  of  one  of  the  very  ablest  of  our  American 
authors — of  one  indeed  who,  in  his  peculiar  sphere,  is  inimitable.  This  volume  is  a 
continuation  of '  The  Partisan.'  "—Philadelphia  American  Courier. 

ALSO     UNIFORM     WITH     THE     ABOVE 

THE  YEMASSEE, 

A  Romance  of  South  Carolina.  By  Wm.  Gilmore  Simms.  New 
and  entirely  Revised  Edition,  with  Illustrations  by  Darley.  12mo, 
cloth;  price  $1.25. 

"  In  interest,  it  is  second  to  but  few  romances  in  the  language ;  in  power,  it  holds  a 
high  rank ;  in  healthfulness  of  style,  it  furnishes  an  example  worthy  of  emulation."— 
Greene  County  Whig. 


<* 


SIMMS'  POETICAL  WORKS. 

Poems :  Descriptive,  Dramatic,  Legendary,  and  Contemplative. 
By  Wm.  Gilmore  Simms.  With  a  portrait  on  steel.  2  vols., 
12mo,  cloth;  price  $2.50. 

Contents  :  Norman  Maurice ;  a  Tragedy.— Atalantis  ;  a  Tale  of  the  Sea. — Tales  and 
Traditions  of  the  South.— The  City  of  the  Silent— Southern  Passages  and  Pictures. — 
Historical  and  Dramatic  Sketches. — Scripture  Legends. — Francesca  da  Rimini,  etc. 

••  We  are  glad  to  see  the  poems  of  our  best  Southern  author  collected  in  two  hand- 
some volumes.  Here  we  have  embalmed  in  graphic  and  melodious  verse  the  scenic 
wonders  and  charms  of  the  South ;  and  this  feature  of  the  work  alone  gives  it  a  per- 
manent and  special  value.  None  can  read  'Southern  Passages  and  Pictures'  without 
feeling  that  therein  the  poetic  aspects,  association,  and  sentiment  of  Southern  life  and 
scenery  are  vitally  enshrined.  '  Norman  Maurice'  is  a  dramatic  poem  of  peculiar  scope 
and  unusual  interest;  and  *  Atalantis,'  a  poem  upon  which  some  of  the  author's  finest 
powers  of  thought  and  expression  are  richly  lavished.  None  of  our  poets  offer  so  great 
a  variety  of  style  or  a  more  original  choice  of  subjects."— Boston  Traveller. 

"  His  versification  is  fluent  and  mellifluous,  yet  not  lacking  in  point  of  vigor  when  an 
energetic  style  is  requisite  to  the  subject."— N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 

"Mr.  Simms  ranks  among  the  first  poets  of  our  country,  and  these  well-printed 
volumes  contain  poetical  productions  of  rare  merit." — Washington  (D.  C.)  Star. 


FIFTY   YEARS 


BOTH    HEMISPHERES 


OE, 


REMINISCENCES 


LIFE  OF  A  FORMER  MERCHANT 


BY    VINCENT    NOLTE 

LATE   OP  NSW  ORLEANS 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN 


All  mortals  do  but  steer,  where  sure  the  port  invites, 

But,  there  are  wanderers  o'er  eternity, 

Whose  bark  drives  on,  and  anchored — 

Nwer  will  be!  Byron. 


REDFIELD 

110  AND   112  NASSAU-STREET,  NEW  YORK 

1854. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  One  Thousand  Eight  Hundred  and 
Fifty-four,  by  J.  S.  REDFIELD,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the 
United  States,  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


TO 

THE  HIGH,  AND  WELL-BORN  GENTLEMAN, 

ME.   ERNEST  MERCK, 

IMPERIAL  AUSTRIAN  MAJESTY'S  CONSUL-GENERAL  AT  HAMBURGH,  AND 
COMMANDER  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  AUSTRIAN  ORDER  OF  LEOPOLD, 
IN  GRATEFUL  ACKNOWLEDGMENT  OF  HIS  MANY 
EVIDENCES  OF  FRIENDLY  GOOD  WILL, 


€jit0  38nnk 


IS  MOST  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED  BY 

THE  AUTHOR. 


915414 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S  BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH. 

Leghorn,  his  birth-place,  in  1779 — Journey  to  Hamburgh,  in  1788 — Visit  to 
Leghorn,  1791-1792— Return  to  Hamburgh,  in  1792— Professor  C.  F.  Hipp 
of  Tubinjen,  his  first  and  only  instructor — Commencement  of  his  mercantile 
career,  in  the  House  of  Messrs.  Otto  Franck  and  Co.  at  Leghorn,  in  1795 — 
Entry  of  the  French  into  Leghorn,  under  General  Bonaparte,  1796 — 
General  Murat — Major  Hullin — The  popular  representatives  Garat  and 
Salicetti — Sojourn  at  Florence — The  villa  Pandolfini,  in  1797 — Return  to 
Hamburgh — French  theatre  in  Hamburgh — The  commercial  crisis  at  Ham- 
burgh, in  the  year  1799 — Sojourn  at  Hamburgh — Altered  family  circum- 
stances— Detei-mination  to  leave  the  place — Departure  from  Hamburgh 
in  1804 17 

CHAPTER    II. 

PARIS— NANTES— AMSTERDAM. 

The  trial  of  General  Moreau  at  Paris,  as  I  arrived  there — State  of  opinion  in 
that  capital — Napoleon's  first  parade  as  Emperor,  on  the  Place  du  Car- 
rousal — Departure  for  Nantes — My  entry  into  the  house  of  A.  M.  Labou- 
chere  and  Trotreau  —  The  two  head  partners — My  departure  from 
Amsterdam  at  the  request  of  P.  C.  Labouchere,  head  of  the  firm  of  Hope 
and  Co.,  in  that  city — Some  notice  of  *the  history  of  that  house,  and  the 
characteristics  of  its  leading  partner — The  object  of  my  journey  to  the 
United  States  and  farther  intentions — Unexampled  business  projects  with 
the  banker,  G.  J.  Ouvrard,  in  Paris 42 


vi  CONTENT& 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR,  G.  J.  OUVRARD 

His  origin  and  business  development — First  great  speculation — The  founding 
of  his  establishment  at  Paris — His  private  intimacies  lead  to  acquaintance- 
ship with  the  Director  Baras  and  Brigadier  Chief  Bonaparte,  before  the 
appointment  of  the  latter  to  the  rank  of  General — The  rapid  rise  of  Ouv- 
rard,  as  a  government  contractor — He  becomes  the  Maecenas  of  artists — 
His  princely  liberality — Nicolo  Isouard,  the  composer — Ouvrard's  first 
connexion  with  the  Spanish  Government — Immense  transactions  with  the 
French  Government,  with  Vanlerberghe  and  with  Duprez — Ouvrard's  jour- 
ney to  Madrid — His  influence  with  the  Prince  of  Peace — The  business  con- 
tract between  King  Charles  IV.  of  Spain  and  Ouvrard — Results  of  this 
contract — The  commercial  treaty  that  sprang  from  it — Hope  &,  Co.  in  Am- 
sterdam— The  inconsiderate  condemnation  of  Ouvrard,  and  frivolous  pallia- 
tion of  Napoleon's  unjust  course  towards  him  by  Thiers,  in  the  sixth  volume 
of  his  History  of  the  Consulate 66 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  MEXICAN  BUSINESS  OF  MESSRS.  HOPE  &  CO. 

The  basis  of  the  plan  laid  down  in  Amsterdam,  and  its  execution  in  the  Uni- 
ted States — David  Parish  of  Antwerp  intrusted  with  the  chief  control  of 
this  business,  and  Mr.  A.  P.  Lestapis,  from  Hope's  counting-house,  and  I, 
charged  with  the  two  most  important  branches  of  the  money  management ; 
the  former  in  Vera  Cruz,  and  myself  in  New  Orleans — My  departure  from 
Amsterdam  for  New  York — Breaking  out  of  the  yellow  fever  there — 
Excursion  to  Boston — Arrival  of  the  exiled  General  Moreau  in  New  York — 
Arrival  of  David  Parish  in  New  York — Final  consultations  there — My  arri- 
val at  New  Orleans,  on  the  first  Easter  Sunday,  1806 — Sketch  of  the  state 
of  things  in  that  city — Governor  Claiborne — The  land  speculator  John 
McDonough — The  lawyer  Edward  Livingston — My  first  appearance  in  New 
Orleans,  as  a  business  man — The  yellow  fever,  which  had  spared  me  in 
New  York,  seizes  me  here — The  Conspiracy  of  the  former  Vice  President 
of  the  United  States,  Aaron  Burr — General  Wilkinson — The  rencontre  of 
the  American  frigate  Chesapeake  with  the  British  man-of-war  Leopard,  in 
the  year  1807 — Its  influence  upon  my  business  relations — General  expecta- 
tion of  war  with  England 77 


CONTENTS.  vii 


CHAPTER  V. 
DAVID  PARISH  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

The  measures  adopted  by  him — A  retrospective  glance  at  Ouvrard  and  his 
affairs — Mismanagement  the  natural  result  of  the  unlimited  obligations  he 
had  assumed — Complicated  relations  with  the  French  State  Bank,  which 
thereby  finds  itself  obliged  to  suspend  specie  payments — Napoleon's  return 
after  the  peace  of  Presburg — Despotic  measures,  and  his  arbitrary  inter- 
ference with  Ouvrard's  business  relations,  by  which  the  whole  organization 
is  brought  to  the  ground — Napoleon  and  the  house  of  Hope  &  Co.  in  Am- 
sterdam, who,  with  becoming  dignity,  reject  his  propositions,  and  send  his 
agent,  afterwards  the  Baron  Louis,  home  with  a  flea  in  his  ear — The  French 
Consul,  General  de  Beaujour,  in  Philadelphia,  is  obliged  to  place  himself  in 
the  hands  of  Parish,  as  Mollien,  the  Minister  of  Finance,  is  also  compelled  to 
throw  himself  into  the  arms  of  Hope  &  Co. — False  and  one-sided  judgment 
of  Ouvrard  by  Thiers,  who  never  did,  or  never  would,  comprehend  Ouv- 
rard's position  as  a  merchant 95 


CHAPTER  VI. 
FORCED  ABANDONMENT  OF  VERY  IMPORTANT  OPERATIONS. 

My  return  to  Philadelphia — Acquaintance  with  Robert  Fulton  at  New  York 
— A  glance  at  his  history — The  trial-trip  of  the  first  steamboat  Clermont 
from  New  York  for  Albany — Departure  for  Havana,  to  call  in  the  govern- 
ment-exchange of  700,000  piastres — Negotiation  with  the  Intendant-Gene- 
ral  Roubaud — Exchange  of  these  bills  for  a  single  one  drawn  to  my  order, 
and  a  bill  for  945,000  dollars  on  the  viceroy  of  Mexico  given  me, — the 
largest  in  amount  I  ever  indorsed — I  take  passage  from  Havana  in  the 
schooner   "  Merchant,"  bound  for  Baltimore 110 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE    SHIPWRECK. 

Shipwreck  off  the  coast  of  Florida,  on  the  Carysfort  Reef — My  sojourn  in  the 
village  of  Nassau  on  the  Island  of  New  Providence,  one  of  the  Bahama 
group — Return  to  the  United  States — Arrival  in  Philadelphia 125 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  EMBARGO  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  YEAR  1808. 

Rupture  of  communications  with  Mexico  ;  the  first  and  most  important  cause 
which  influenced  the  independent  position  of  Parish,  and  became  the  source 
of  his  first  embarrassments — The  large  purchase  of  lands  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence river  was  one  of  the  next — History  of  this  purchase — Gouverneur 
Morris  and  Le  Ray  de  Chaumont  were  the  originators  of  Parish's  blindness, 
and  the  first  to  sell  property  of  such  diminutive  value — Parish  obtains  per- 
mission from  Gallatin,  the  Secretary  of  State,  notwithstanding  the  embargo, 
to  dispatch  ships  in  ballast,  and  bring  silver  dollars  from  Mexico — The  use 
made  of  this  favor  by  John  Jacob  Astor,  of  New  York — His  history — Ste- 
phen Girard,  in  Philadelphia — Girard's  history  and  career — Fracture  of  my 
right  leg  at  Wilmington — I  employ  the  retirement,  rendered  necessary  by 
this  accident,  to  strike  off  the  first  balance  of  our  great  operation 136 

CHAPTER  IX. 

MY  TRIP  TO  EUROPE  IN  THE  MONTH  OF  APRIL,  1809. 

Return  to  Europe  in  the  mouth  of  April,  1809,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  over 
the  first  balance-sheet — Arrival  at  Falmouth — Stay  there,  in  consequence 
of  the  Alien  Act — Visit  of  Mr.  John  Parish,  at  Cheltenham — His  outward 
appearance  on  the  Bathers'  promenade — My  first  visit  to  the  House  of  the 
Barings — Visit  to  Mr.  Henry  Hope,  the  oldest  head  of  the  Amsterdam 
House — Sir  Francis  Baring — The  London  firm,  Baring,  Brothers  and  Co. — 
First  meeting  with  Mr.  Alexander  Baring — Journey  to  Holland,  by  way  of 
Helgoland — Journey  to  Paris — Meeting  there  with  Mr.  P.  C.  Labouchere, 
who  makes  me  personally  acquainted  with  Ouvrard — An  anecdote  of  the 
latter — The  pins — New  plans  of  Ouvrard,  which  are  overthrown  by  the  bat- 
tle of  Wagram  and  its  consequences — Return  to  Amsterdam,  by  way  of 
Brussels — My  sickness  in  Amsterdam  during  the  winter — Return  to  Ham- 
burgh, in  the  spring  of  1810 — Family  circumstances 154 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND. 

Return  to  England,  to  await  the  arrival  of  Parish,  for  the  final  liquidation  of 
the  great  operation — This  takes  place  much  later  than  was  expected,  and 
the  liquidation  is  not  made  until  June,  1811 — Parish  is  accompanied  by  me 


CONTENTS.  ix 

to  Antwerp,  where  I  await  the  result — Unusual  profit  by  the  operation — 
Meeting,  in  Paris,  with  Labouchere,  Parish,  and  Le  Ray  Chaumont ;  the  last 
busied  with  new  projects  for  the  sale  of  his  lands,  never  lets  Parish  out  of 
his  sight — Rapid  glance  at  the  value  of  the  lands  purchased  by  Parish — Re- 
doubled propositions  to  houses  in  Europe — I  refuse  them — Resolution  to 
return  to  New  Orleans — Preliminary  consultations  with  Mr.  Labouchere, 
and  then  with  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  at  London,  in  relation  to  my  future 
establishment  at  New  Orleans — The  selection  of  a  companion  and  future 
partner  in  business — My  departure  from  Liverpool  for  New  York,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1811 — Arrival  there — Continuation  of  my  journe}'  to  New  Orleans 
overland,  and  by  means  of  the  western  navigation — The  flat-boats  I  build 
and  fit  up  at  Pittsburgh — I  follow  my  companion,  who  had  preceded  me, 
and  cross  the  Alleghany  mountains  on  horseback — My  first  acquaintance, 
near  the  Falls  of  the  Juniata,  with  Audubon,  who  afterwards  became  so 
celebrated  as  an  ornithologist — My  stay  at  Lexington — Henry  Clay — First 
traces  of  the  earthquake,  on  the  way  to  Louisville,  and  then  in  that  city — 
The  earthquake  comes  on,  in  the  night  of  February  6,  1812,  near  New  Mad- 
rid, beside  the  Mississippi — Description  of  my  situation — Consequences  of 
the  earthquake — Arrival  in  New  Orleans,  in  March,  1812 1*70 


CHAPTER  XI. 

NEW    ORLEANS. 

New  Orleans — My  first  arrangements — Congress  declares  war  against  Eng- 
land June  18th,  1812 — David  Parish  assumes  one  of  the  Government  loans 
on  his  own  responsibility,  and  thus  gives  rise  to  embarrassment  in  his 
affairs — The  Peace  confirmed  at  Ghent,  in  December,  1814,  happily  extri- 
cates him — Tropical  hurricane  at  New  Orleans,  in  the  fall  of  1812 — Frac- 
ture of  my  right  arm,  in  the  year  1814 — Needless  suspension  of  specie  pay- 
ments by  the  New  Orleans  banks — Appointed,  by  the  Exchange,  a  member 
of  the  Committee  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  things,  and  report  there- 
upon, as  framer  of  the  report — I  get  into  personal  difficulty — The  origin  of 
my  first  duel,  with  an  opponent  never  known  to  me  or  seen  by  me  before — 
A  business  operation  in  Pensacola,  by  way  of  the  two  lakes — Borgne 
and  Pontchartrain,  adjacent  to  New  Orleans — The  fleet  of  small  craft  I  take 
across  them,  laden  with  cotton — I  arrive  with  them  in  Mobile  bay,  there 
await  the  result  of  the  first  bombardment  of  the  fort,  and  take  advantage  of 
the  moment  when  the  English  fleet  are  hauling  off,  after  their  repulse,  to 
run  into  Pensacola  during  the  night — I  am  saddled  with  fresh  difficulties 
bv  the  Clique  of  the  Bank  Cashier,  Saul  in  New  Orleans ;  for  instance,  in 
an  affair  with  the  Marine  Paymaster,  Shields — Interruption  of  my  quarrel, 
by  the  arrival  of  the  English  fleet  in  the  Gulf  of  Florida 184 


x  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

JACKSON'S  DEFENCE  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  ORLEANS. 

His  arrival  there  on  the  1st  of  December,  1814 — Simultaneous  arrival  of  the 
English  fleet  in  the  waters  of  Florida — Capture  of  our  gunboats  by  the 
English,  on  the  14th  of  December — March  of  our  militia  battalions  to  the 
Bayou  St.  John,  on  Lac  Borgne — On  the  23d  of  December,  the  first  intelli- 
gence is  received  that  the  British  had  landed  on  the  plantation  of  General 
Villere — "We  are  ordered  to  the  spot  with  all  the  troops  under  Jackson's 
command — The  night  engagement  of  December  23d — The  burning  of  our  cut- 
ter, the  Carolina,  by  an  English  battery,  on  Christmas  day — The  heavy 
cannonade  on  New- Year's  day,  1815 — The  complete  discomfiture  of  the  Bri- 
tish force,  under  General  Packenham,  on  the  occasion  of  its  attack  on  our 
first  line,  January  8th,  1815 — Immensely  disproportionate  loss  of  the  Eng- 
lish— Completion  of  the  British  retreat,  on  January  16th 202 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

RETURN  OF  OUR  SMALL  ARMY  INTO  THE  CITY. 

The  first  news  of  the  peace  concluded  at  Ghent,  December  24th,  1814 — Mar- 
tial law  in  New  Orleans — Jackson's  violent  measures — The  arbitrary  course 
pursued  by  him  toward  myself — Characteristic  traits — Source  of  his  hatred 
to  the  National  Bank — The  peace  rejoicings  in  the  city — Present  to  Mrs. 
Jackson — Fitting  out  of  the  ship  Horatio — Renewal  of  my  quarrel  with 
Mr.  Shields — Effect  of  my  publication  of  the  correspondence  between  him 
and  myself— Another  and  unfortunate  duel  with  the  son  of  Mr.  Saul — Ar- 
rival of  intelligence  from  Paris,  announcing  Napoleon's  entry  into  that  cap- 
ital—Prudential arrangements  in  relation  to  the  cargo  of  the  ship  Horatio, 
on  board  of  which  I  finally  embark 218 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

JOURNEY  TO  FRANCE— WATERLOO— PARIS  IN  THE  HANDS 
OF  THE  ALLIES  IN  1815. 

Voyage  to  France— Waterloo— Paris  in  the  hands  of  the  Allies  in  1815—1 
am  obliged  to  run  into  Havana,  on  my  way  to  Nantes— First  news  of  the 
battle  of  Waterloo,  at  sea— Consternation  and  rage  of  my  French  shipmates 


CONTENTS.  xi 

— Confirmation  of  the  news  by  the  pilot  of  the  Belle-Isle — Arrival  at  Paim- 
bceuf — The  white  flag  of  the  Bourbons  floating  over  the  forts — a  second 
corroboration  of  Napoleon's  fall — Visit  to  my  old  counting-room  at  Nantes. 
— The  Venus  Callypyges  still  in  its  former  place — Journey  to  Paris — Prus- 
sian outposts  at  Blois — Major  Keller,  into  whose  hands  Napoleon's  chapeau 
and  sword  had  fallen  at  Charleroi — The  bridge  at  Tours,  and  the  Grena- 
diers of  the  Old  Guard  on  the  left  bank — Paris — Description  of  the  position 
of  affairs — Anecdote  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington — The  death  of  Marshal 
Ney — Review  of  the  Russian  Guard,  on  the  Boulevards,  from  the  Barrier 
du  Trone  to  the  Barrier  de  l'Etoile — The  returned  English  officers  from 
Orleans  at  Paris — English  and  French  cooking — The  American  General 
Scott  at  Paris — Object  of  my  trip  to  Europe — Ouvrard  again  Napoleon's 
Commissary-General  during  the  Hundred  Days — His  description  of  the 
battle  of  Waterloo— Second  return  of  the  Bourbons— State  of  financial 
affairs — The  remodelling  of  the  Hope  establishment  at  Amsterdam  in 
1814,  and  the  entry  of  Mr.  Jerome  Sillem  into  it — Financial  embarrass- 
ments of  the  Bourbons — Ouvrard's  success  in  the  negotiation  of  the  first 
loan  through  the  Barings  in  London,  and  the  Hopes  in  Amsterdam — Pow- 
erful aid  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington — Ouvrard,  the  creator  of  this  mine  of 
wealth  for  all  concerned,  comes  off  empty-handed  himself 238 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  BATTLE-FIELD  OF  WATERLOO.— THE  COTTON-MARKET.— 
FRANCIS  BARING.— REMODELLING  OF  THE  BARINGS'  ESTAB 
LISHMENT. 

Departure  from  Paris — Brussels — Visit  to  the  Field  of  Waterloo — Coste, 
Napoleon's  Guide,  becomes  mine — A  short  visit  to  Hamburgh  and  England, 
on  my  way  back  to  the  United  States — Embarkation  at  Liverpool — Pit- 
cairn,  the  former  American  Consul  at  Hamburgh,  with  his  newly-married 
Daughter  and  Son-in-Law,  are  my  travelling  Companions — The  first  Heart 
outpouring  of  the  fond  wedded  pair,  upon  our  arrival  at  New  York — Jour- 
ney overland  to  New  Orleans — The  Scotch  Houses  in  New  Orleans — Their 
policy  on  the  Cotton  Market,  and  mine — Trip  to  Europe  in  the  Summer 
of  1819 — The  Congress  at  Aix,  in  1818 — Crisis  in  the  Money  Market — 
Berenbrook,  the  Dutch  Speculator  in  Funds — Alexander  Baring  rescues  the 
Paris  Money  Market  from  the  consequences  of  the  Crisis — Enormous  Busi- 
ness of  my  House  in  New  Orleans — Its  preponderance  in  the  Cotton-Mar- 
ket— Arrival  of  Mr.  Francis  Baring,  then  the  Junior,  now  the  Senior  Partner 
of  the  London  House  at  New  Orleans — Sketch  of  some  of  that  gentleman's 
peculiar  Traits  of  Character — Death  of  Mr.  S.  C.  Holland — Remodelling 
of  the  Baring  House — Entry  of  Mr.  Joshua  Bates  into  it 260 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  FRENCH  FIVE  PER  CENT.  RENTES. 

My  reception  in  Havre  in  the  summer  of  1822 — James  Lafitte,  the  Paris 
banker — A  Sunday  at  his  countiw-seat — "  Maison  sur  Seine,"  a  former  plea- 
sure palace  of  Louis  XIV — The  Marquis  of  Lansdowne — Exorbitant  price 
of  cotton — The  general  improper  conduct  of  speculators  at  Havre  and 
Rouen — The  only  exception — A  merchant's  morality — Breach  of  trust  of 
one  of  the  first  houses  in  Havre,  to  the  injury  of  Mr.  P.  C.  Labouchere,  its 
great  patron — The  combination  of  Messrs.  Cropper,  Benson  &  Co.,  and  Rath- 
bone,  Hodgson  &  Co.,  to  bring  about  a  fresh  rise  in  the  prices  of  cotton,  which 
had  gone  down — An  offer  made,  inviting  me  to  join  in  this  project,  which,  as 
I  had  foreseen,  proved  impracticable — A  visit  to  Hamburgh,  in  the  winter 
of  1823-24 — Return  to  Paris — Project  of  the  French  Minister  of  Finance, 
the  Marquis  de  Villele,  for  the  conversion  of  the  whole  national  debt  into 
five  per  cent  Rentes — Rivalry  of  the  Vicomte  de  Chateaubriand,  who  suc- 
ceeds in  defeating  the  scheme,  but  without  being  able  to  unseat  the  Mar- 
quis— By  this  he  loses  his  own  place  in  the  ministry — First  acquaintance 
with  General  Lafayette  ;  his  desire,  after  an  interval  of  forty  years,  to  re- 
visit the  United  States — His  embarrassed  pecuniary  situation — Successful 
attempt,  on  my  part,  to  procure  the  sum  of  100,000  francs  for  him — He  is 
thereby  enabled  to  undertake  the  desired  journey,  and  starts  upon  it — Miss 
Wright,  his  protegee — The  Paris  Bourse,  after  the  failure  of  Villele's 
scheme — Well-meant  but  enigmatically-worded  advice  of  Mr.  Francis  Bar- 
ing, in  regard  to  the  five  per  cent.  Rente — He  fails  in  his  object  to  save  me 
from  an  important  loss 281 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  BUSINESS  CRISIS  OF   1825-6.— LAFAYETTE  IN  NEW 
ORLEANS. 

The  Liverpool  Cotton  Market  at  the  close  of  the  year  1824 — Sudden  rise  of 
prices,  in  January,  1825 — Manoeuvres  of  the  Liverpool  houses  to  keep  up 
the  prices — Well  calculated  course  of  the  Scotch  house  of  J.  <fc  A.  Denis- 
toun  &  Co. — The  speculation  mania  in  New  Orleans — Arrival  of  General 
Lafayette  in  New  Orleans — His  reception — Anecdotes  of  him — I  accom- 
pany him,  in  the  name  of  the  city,  as  one  of  its  deputies,  to  Natchez — 
State  of  the  Cotton  Market  when  I  arrived  in  Natchez 306 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  CRISIS  OF  1825-26. 

Extensive  purchase  of  cotton  for  the  house  of  Crowder,  Clough  &  Co.,  in  Liv- 
erpool— Failure  of  that  house,  and  the  establishments  connected  with  it  in 
New  York  and  Charleston — Influence  of  the  failure  on  the  position  of  my 
house — Unavoidable  suspension  of  payments — The  creditors  unanimously 
appoint  me  Syndic  of  the  Mass — Transferral  of  my  power  of  attorney  to 
my  junior  partners — My  voyage  to  England — Reception  at  Barings' — The 
true  position  of  affairs,  in  respect  to  the  Crowder  assets — First  success  in 
the  suit  brought  against  the  administrators  of  the  Crowder  assets — Ren- 
contre in  the  Birmingham  post-coach,  on  my  way  back  to  London — A  letter 
from  Mr.  Alexander  Baring — Consequences  of  the  rencontre  in  the  post- 
coach — Favorable  issue  of  my  heavy  suit  in  the  Court  of  Chancery — Lord 
Eldon ;  the  last  decision  but  one  rendered  by  him  before  leaving  the  Min 
istry 317 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

John  Quincy  Adams  and  Andrew  Jackson,  the  two  candidates — Jackson's  lack 
of  qualifications  for  the  office — Edward  Livingston  the  first  projector  and 
leader  of  Jackson's  election — Intrigues  in  his  favor — Unworthy  means  to 
ensure  his  success — Jackson  revisits  New  Orleans,  in  182*7,  as  a  candidate — 
Electioneering  manoeuvres — The  article  in  The  American,  a  New  York  paper 
— I  am  set  upon,  in  my  dwelling-house,  by  a  couple  of  his  followers — Final 
departure  from  New  Orleans — Havre — Paris — Fruitless  attempts  to  found 
a  concern  at  Havre — Acquaintance  with  an  English  banking-house,  Daly  <fe 
Co.,  in  Paris — It  leads  to  the  establishment  of  a  concern  at  Marseilles,  as 
branch  of  the  house  ;  Pierre  Maillet  &  Co.,  at  Martinique,  together  with 
Maillet,  Cage  &  Co.,  at  Havre,  and  Daly  &  Co.,  at  Paris,  as  sleeping  part- 
ners— Before  the  opening  of  my  new  establishment,  I  visit  England  and 
Hamburgh,  the  latter  place  only  for  five  days — Return  by  way  of  England 
and  Paris — Arrival  in  the  French  capital,  on  the  morning  of  July  27th, 
1830 — The  July  Revolution — Departure  for  Marseilles — The  failure  of 
Daly  &  Co.  follows  close  at  my  heels,  and  obliges  me  to  return  in  haste  to 
Paris — Journey  to  Havre,  in  behalf  of  Daly's  creditors — The  holding  back 
of  the  Havre  house,  and  the  consequent  impossibility  of  ferreting  out  the  true 
state  of  affairs — The  sudden  crippling  of  the  machinery  and  uprooting  of 
the  foundation  of  the  new  house  in  Marseilles  renders  its  entire  dissolution 
necessary — A  fresh  jouruev  in  search  of  subsistence  stares  me  in  the  face.  335 

1 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  SUPPLYING  OF  ARMS. 

Visit  to  General  Lafayette,  "who  had  been  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  all 
the  National  Guard  of  the  realm — The  arming  of  that  force — A  couple  of 
lines  from  the  General  procures  me  admission  to  General  Gerard,  the  Min- 
ister of  War — First  contract  for  50,000  old  French  muskets  from  the  Prus- 
sian fortresses — Appointment  of  Marshal  Soult  as  minister  of  war — The 
rival  authority  of  Lafayette,  as  head  of  the  National  Guard,  is  in  the  way 
of  M.  Casimir  Perrier,  the  new  president  of  Louis  Philippe's  Council — The 
general  commandancy  of  the  National  Guard  is  abolished  by  a  vote  of  the 
Chambers — Lafayette  drops  the  honorary  title,  and  altogether  retires — The 
extension  of  my  contract  for  arms  with  the  war  ministry — Daly's  bequest — 
I  make  the  acquaintance  of  two  blacklegs  and  cheats,  G.  and  0. — 5000  stand 
of  the  arms  purchased  at  Hamburgh  arrive  in  Havre,  and  are  rejected  at 
the  arsenal,  as  unfit  for  use — The  same  fate  befals  5000  more  at  Strasbourg 
— I  succeed,  however,  in  extricating  myself  from  the  bad  bargain,  not  only 
without  loss,  but  even  with  advantage — Delivery  of  sabres  for  the  army — 
Colonel  Lefrancois,  director  of  the  arsenal  at  Havre — Contrast  between 
him  and  another  officer  of  rank — Remarks  upon  the  contractor  business  in 
general « 349 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  THE  RUE  DES  PROUVAIRES— 

My  contracts  and  deliveries  of  arms  lead  to  its  discovery — The  sub-contractor 
and  intermediary,  Darmenon — Disclosure  of  the  plot  to  the  Police  Prefect, 
Gisquet — Arrest  of  the  conspirators  in  the  Rue  des  Prouvaires,  in  the  eve- 
ning of  Feb.  2d,  by  Carlier,  the  last  Prefect  of  the  Police  under  the  Repub- 
lic—The trial  in  the  assizes  for  the  department  of  the  Seine — My  testimony 
— Opposition  of  the  Prefect — The  decision — Ambiguous  conduct  of  the  Pre- 
fect— The  disclosure  of  his  venality  leads  to  his  dismissal 361 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   ARTIST   WORLD  OF   PARIS— PAUL 
DELAROCHE— 

His  complete  establishment  in  his  profession,  by  his  picture,  "  The  Beheading 
of  Lady  Jane  Grey" — Universal  impression  produced  by  the  picture — The 
cholera  in  Paris  in  the  summer  of  1832 — Delaroche's  contract  with  M. 
Thiers,  then  Minister  of  the  Interior,  for  the  decoration  of  the  walls  of  the 


CONTENTS.  xv 

Madeleine — He  goes  to  Rome,  to  complete  the  preparatory  studies — Thiers 
breaks  his  word,  and  thus  occasions  the  abandonment  of  the  contract  and 
Delaroche's  return  to  Paris — His  enviers  and  deprecators,  and  his  demeanor 
towards  them — The  painter  Charlet — An  anecdote  concerning  him — A  piece 
of  experience  and  information  from  the  monde  galant  of  Paris  enables  me 
to  give  him  a  hint  that  I  had  got  a  peep  at  his  cards,  and  had  made  out  his 
game — Some  sketchy  remarks  concerning  the  Coryphsei  of  the  Paris  school, 
such  as  Horace  Vernet,  Ingres,  Delacroix,  Decamps,  Ary  Scheffer,  and 
others 368 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

CLOSING  SCENES  AN"D  RESULTS  OF  MY  DELIVERY  OF  ARMS. 

A  secret  canker  at  work — The  undermining  of  my  prosperity  by  the  puer- 
ilities of  those  engaged  with  me  in  the  business — Loss  of  an  important  suit 
in  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce  at  Paris — I  grasp  at  a  straw — The  scheme 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Roman  5  per  cent.  Rentes  takes  me  to  Rome — 
My  visit  to  Italy,  after  an  absence  of  38  years — Florence — Rome — The 
aged  Duchess  Torlonia — Chiaveri,  her  son  by  her  first  marriage — The 
Tyrolese  Stolz,  Secretary  of  the  Papal  Treasurer,  Monsignor  Tosti — My 
chance-meeting  with  Ouvrard,  in  the  Villa  Borghese — My  return  to  France. 
by  way  of  Leghorn,  my  birthplace — Another  meeting,  of  an  unusual  kind, 
with  an  old  friend — The  beauty  of  the  Villa  Pandolfini — Disconsolate  cir- 
cumstances and  prospects — Lack  of  profitable  busiuess  in  Paris 380 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

THE  INVENTION  OF  N.  COLLAS  AND  ITS  APPLICATION- 

The  Company  of  the  "  Tresor  de  Numismatique  et  de  Glyptique" — Its  first 
success  at  Paris — Effort  to  extend  it  in  England — Journey  to  London — Visit 
to  the  Cabinet  of  Medals,  in  the  British  Museum — Mr.  E.  Hawkins,  tin- 
warden— Combination  of  his  project  for  a  numismatic  history  of  Great 
Britain  with  my  scheme — Attempted  conclusion  of  an  arrangement  with  tin- 
Trustees  of  the  museum,  in  consequence  of  an  understanding  with  the  book 
seller  Tilt — His  petition  to  the  House  of  Commons,  praying  parliamentary 
aid  in  support  of  our  project — The  subject  transferred  to  the  Common;-' 
Committee  on  the  British  Museum — Hearing  of  witnesses  by  the  committev 
— Sir  Francis  Chantrey,  the  sculptor — Characteristic  anecdotes  of  thai 
artist — Unworthy  opposition  to  my  plan  by  the  painter  Brockedon,  h. 
combination  with  W.  Wyon,  the  coin  engraver,  and  others,  in  favor  of  th< 
mathematical  instrument-maker,  Bates — The  committee  arrive  at  no  definite 
conclusion,  and  allow  the  examination  of  witnesses  to  dr;i<r  on — Uuinter 


XYi  CONTENTS. 

rupted  efforts  on  my  part  with  the  Trustees  of  the  museum  to  gain  my 
point — The  nature  of  my  propositions  meets  with  a  very  satisfactory  recep- 
tion on  their  part,  and  they  carry  the  cost  of  executing  my  plan  into  their 
budget — A  deficit  of  2,000,000  pouuds  sterling,  in  the  general  national  Bud- 
get, compels  the  Royal  High  Chancellor  to  put  his  veto  on  this  new  appro- 
priation   392 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

QUEEN  VICTORIA— THE  QUEEN'S  BENCH-PRISON— THE 
QUEEN'S  CORONATION. 

Plan  to  strike  off  a  portrait-medal  of  the  queen — Sir  John  Conroy,  grand 
equerry  of  the  Duchess  of  Kent — His  resignation — The  Baroness  Lehzen, 
lady-secretary  to  the  queen,  who  procures  admission  for  myself  and  the 
sculptor  "Weeks  to  Her  Majesty's  presence — The  result  of  this  audience 
— My  arrest  and  confinement  in  the  Queen's  Bench-prison,  in  consequence  of 
legal  proceedings  on  the  part  of  the  litigious  and  runaway  Duke  Charles  of 
Brunswick — My  liberation,  after  3-J-  months'  imprisonment — Unexpected 
arrival  of  my  wife — The  queen's  Coronation-day — The  simultaneous  ascent 
of  seven  air-balloons  from  Hyde  Park — Return  of  my  wife  to  Paris — My 
determination  to  revisit  the  United  States — Announcement  of  the  second 
trip  of  the  steamship  Great  Western  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean — Old  Admi- 
ral Coffin,  whom  I  meet  at  Leamington,  tries  to  dissuade  me  from  availing 
myself  of  this  opportunity  to  sail  for  New  York,  and  to  prove  the  insecu- 
rity of  ocean  steam-navigation,  upon  nautical  grounds — Still,  I  sail  by  the 
steamer — Arrival  at  New  York,  after  an  uncommonly  stormy  passage  of 
eighteen  days 40*7 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

NICHOLAS  BIDDLE  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK. 

Wilder,  the  agent  of  the  house  of  Messrs.  Hottinguer  &  Co.,  in  Paris  and 
Havre — His  intimacy  with  Nicholas  Biddle,  the  President  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Bank  of  the  United  States — Biddle's  project  to  restore  the  balance  of 
trade,  between  England  and  the  United  States,  to  an  equilibrium — A  colos- 
sal operation  in  cotton,  the  means  for  which  are  obtained  by  the  strength  of 
my  own  credit — The  pitcher  goes  too  often  to  the  well,  and  is  broken  at 
last — Violent  conclusion  to  the  enterprise — Imprisonment  in  New  Orleans — 
Return  to  the  north,  overland — Cincinnati — Philadelphia — The  adventuress 
from  Floreuce,  my  travelling  companion  to  New  York — Embarkation  for 
England,  on  board  of  the  Steamer  Great  Western — Race  between  this  ves- 


CONTENTS.  xvii 

sel  and  its  competitor,  The  British  Queen — Classification  of  the  company  on 
board  of  the  two  steamers,  by  Gordon  (James  Gordon  Bennett  ? — Trans.), 
editor  of  the  New  York  paper,  "  Morning  Herald" — The  Great  Western 
wins  the  race,  reaching  England  three  days  earlier  than  the  British  Queen. 

418 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

LAST  VISIT  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Return  to  America  by  way  of  England — Attempt  there  to  grasp  at  and  seize 
a  shadow — The  intended  rejection  by  the  house  of  Hottinguer  <fe  Co.,  at. 
Paris,  of  the  bills  of  the  United  States  Bank,  is  communicated  to  me  before- 
hand, when  taking  leave,  by  Mr.  Hottinguer  himself — An  interesting 
acquaintanceship  formed  on  the  way  to  Boulogne — I  embark  at  Liverpool 
on  board  of  the  steamer  Liverpool  Packet,  which  brings  over  the  first 
protest  of  the  drafts  on  the  Hottinguer  firm — Arrival  in  New  York — Gen- 
eral effect  of  Hottinguer's  measures — The  United  States  Bank  suspends 
specie  payments,  and  so  gives  the  signal  for  other  banks  to  do  the  same — 
Dissolution  of  the  project  which  had  been  rejected  by  General  Hamilton — 
I  resolve  to  bid  the  West  a  final  farewell,  and  to  try  my  fortune,  in  the  to 
me,  as  yet,  unknown  East — I  return  to  Europe  in  the  packet-ship  England 
— Remarkable  career  of  Captain  Williams — London  and  Paris — The 
establishment  of  a  commercial  company  in  Venice  draws  me  to  that  city 
on  an  express  invitation  from  the  parties  coneerned — A  sad  year  in  my 
life — My  acquaintanceship  with  the  painter  Nerly  is  my  best  consolation — 
I  visit  Trieste  in  hope  of  better  fortune 480 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

MY  JOURNEY  TO  THE  BLACK  SEA. 

Propositions  of  the  house  of  Grant,  Brothers  &  Co.  to  secure  their  claims 
against  the  house  of  James  and  John  Cortazzi,  at  Odessa — The  puerility  of 
these  gentlemen — I  set  out,  and  travel  to  Galatz,  by  way  of  Vienna  and  the 
Danube,  descending  the  latter  river — The  baths  of  Mehadia — Galatz — Con- 
tinuation of  my  journey  to  Odessa  by  land,  in  company  with  one  of  the 
many  Princes  Galitzin — Jassy — The  Russian  Consul  General  at  that  place 
— Son  of  the  tragic  writer,  Kotzebue — The  Quarantine  of  Skulieni — Kits- 
chenew — Potemkin's  grave — Odessa — James  Cortazzi — The  President  of 
the  Tribunal  of  Commerce — A  Cossack  named  Gamaley,  Cortazzi's  friend 
and  debtor,  serves  me,  at  last,  as  a  means  for  the  liquidation  of  the  debt  to 
the  house  of  Grant  &  Co. — The  passport  system  in  the  southern  Russian 
ports — Prince  Woronzow — The  travelling  Yankee,  Codman ;  the  first  only 
half-witted  American  I  ever  met  with  in  my  life 438 


xviii  CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  RETURN  TO  TRIESTE— 

Departure  from  Odessa — The  Bosphorus — Constantinople  and  the  Golden 
Horn — The  Turkish  fleet — Smyrna — Three  weeks'  quarantine  at  Malta — 
Sicily — Naples — Comparison  of  the  impression  produced  by  the  Bay  of 
Naples  with  that  I  felt  at  my  first  sight  of  New  York  Bay — Continuation 
of  my  return-journey  to  Trieste,  by  way  of  Leghorn,  Genoa,  and  Venice — 
Trieste — The  house  of  J.  C.  Ritter  &  Co. — My  position  in  it — The  district- 
governor,  Count  Stadion — Some  characteristic  sketches  of  him 448 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

TRIESTE. 

Visit  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  in  the  company  of  his  wife  and  minister — 
The  Baron  Von  Kuebec — His  invitation  to  persevere  in  the  examination  of 
Peel's  Bank  Bill,  of  1844,  which  I  first  bring  to  his  notice — He  permits  me 
to  dedicate  my  "  Condition  and  Prospects  of  the  World's  Commerce  in  the 
early  months  of  the  year  1845,"  to  him — Count  Stadion's  great  egg,  the 
Austrian  East  India  Company — Mission  of  Mr.  P.  Erichsen — The  article  of 
the  Augsburgh  "  Algemeine  Zeiiung"  of  August  9th,  1845,  in  relation  to  the 
population  of  Trieste,  <fcc. — A  reference  to  Mr.  Von  Bruck,  the  true  lucky 
star  that  has  risen  over  Trieste — Closer  acquaintanceship  with  him — The 
blind  traveller,  Lieutenant  Holman — The  Scotchman,  Keith,  with  his  collec- 
tion of  daguerreotypes — Completion  of  a  work  on  freedom  of  Trieste  as  a 
commercial  port — Count  Stadion  lays  his  veto  upon  it — A  project  touch- 
ing me,  devised  by  Mr.  Von  Bruck,  takes  me  to  Vienna,  and  thence  to 
Paris 456 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

PARIS,  HAMBURGH— VAIN  HOPE  IN  PARIS. 

Remarks  upon  the  condition  of  public  affairs  there  in  the  years  1847  and  1848 — 
False  policy  of  Louis  Philippe — Guizot — Negotiations  with  the  publishing 
house  of  Messrs.  Perthes,  Besser,  aud  Mauke  in  Hamburgh,  in  relation  to  a  re- 
vision of  William  Benecke's  work  on  the  "  System  of  Insurance  and  Bottomry" 
— Another  visit  to  Hamburgh  in  1848 — The  February  Revolution  at  Paris 
— Its  consequences  in  Germany — Feverish  state  of  things  at  Hamburgh — 
The  Hamburgh  free-trade  paper  called  the  "  Deutseher  Freihafen  " — After 


CONTENTS.  xix 

the  withdrawal  of  its  first  leading  editor,  the  management  of  the  concern 
falls  into  my  hands — The  sheet  christened  the  "Deutsche  Handel's  Zei- 
tuug"  (German  Commercial  Journal)  in  the  beginning  of  1849 — Dictatorial 
conduct  of  the  directing  committee  of  shareholders — Exhaustion  of  the 
small  capital  set  apart  for  the  support  of  free-trade  principles — The  paper 
dies — The  committee  set  their  faces  against  all  explanation  of  the  causes  of 
the  paper's  decease,  and  step  in  violently — My  farewell  words  to  the 
readers  at  the  close  of  tho  paper  are  despotically  suppressed  and  taken  out 
of  the  compositor's  hands — The  revision  of  W.  Benecke's  work  on  "  Insu- 
rance," and  the  completion  of  it  in  the  month  of  April,  1852 468 


PREFATORY. 


The  following  pages  present  the  autobiography  of  one  of  the  most  extraor- 
dinary men  that  ever  lived ;  a  man  who,  in  the  course  of  his  mere  commercial 
life,  has  had  more  and  stranger  adventures  than  are  given  to  most  professed 
travellers,  and  who  relates  them  with  a  vividness  and  reality  that  deserve  to 
give  him  rank  among  writers. 

His  book  professes  to  give  the  history  of  fifty  years,  but  the  reader  will  find 
that  it  embraces  seventy,  and  makes  him  acquainted  with  half  the  people  in 
the  world.  In  Europe  and  America,  let  him  wander  where  he  would,  he 
never,  in  his  late  years,  failed  to  find  an  old  acquaintance.  Men  recognized 
him  through  the  dust-clouds  of  Odessa,  as  in  the  bar-rooms  of  Natchez  under 
the  Hill.  Napoleon,  at  the  age  of  24,  examined  him.  Victoria  has  given  him 
private  audiences.  He  watched  the  rise  and  fall  of  Louis  Philippe,  after  wit- 
nessing the  accomplishment  of  the  catastrophe  of  the  Restoration.  He  has 
doffed  his  hat  to  Ferdinand  of  Austria,  in  Trieste,  and  shaken  hands  with  the 
savage  kings  west  of  the  Mississippi 

He  was  a  German  citizen  of  the  United  States,  born  in  Italy,  and  lived  all 
over.  He  built  flat-boats  at  Pittsburgh,  for  the  navigation  of  the  Ohio,  and 
shouted  among  the  crowd  who  cheered  Robert  Fulton's  steamboat,  as  she  first 
started  from  the  wharf  at  New  York  He  has  been  wrecked  off  the  coast  of 
Florida,  and  imprisoned  in  the  Queen's  Bench,  at  Londoa  He  was  suspected 
of  having  the  plague  at  Malta,  and  had  the  yellow  fever  in  New  Orleans.  He 
peeped  into  the  crater  of  Etna,  and  was  shaken  by  the  earthquake  at  Louis- 
ville. Napoleon's  whole  career  and  Aaron  Burr's  conspiracy  are  made  a 
couple  of  items  in  his  extraordinary  existence. 

This  Yankee  cotton  speculator  arranged  the  conversion  of  a  loan  for  Lis  holi- 
ness the  Pope.  This  confidential  adviser  of  the  Austrian  premier  Von  Kue- 
beck  was  a  soldier  of  General  Jackson,  at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  This 
commissary  of  Louis  Philippe  and  Duke  Charles  of  Brunswick,  was  the  inti- 
mate friend  of  the  republican  Lafayette.  This  lover  of  Livornese  opera  girls 
was  mingled  in  the  plans  of  Nicholas  Biddle.  This  handler  and  possessor  of 
untold  thousands,  of  millions  of  money,  lived  on  bread  and  cheese  in  Venice ; 
and  to  get  even  that  much,  translated  some  English  title-deeds  for  the  monks 
of  San  Lorenzo. 

1* 


xxii  PREFATORY. 

The  very  names  in  this  volume  are  wonderful.  Kings,  Emperors,  Presidents 
and  Popes  jostle  each  other  through  its  pages.  Poets  and  painters  are  criti- 
cised and  gossipped  about — Chantrey  and  Nollekens,  Delaroche  and  Delacroix 
jSerly  and  Landseer.  Now  you  have  a  story  of  Gothe,  and  again  an  anecdote 
of  Chateaubriand.  Byron  and  Lamartine,  Kotzebue  and  Cooper  come  quite 
familiarly  to  the  tip  of  his  pen,  and  when  tired  of  telling  what  he  knows  about 
these,  he  writes  verses  himself — verses  of  great  mediocrity. 

One  of  the  richest  of  modern  merchants,  and  most  daring  of  speculators,  he 
yet  never  neglected  his  love  for  art  nor  his  talent  with  the  crayon.  When  his 
commercial  greatness  had  culminated  and  waned,  he  became  everything  by 
turns — commissary  for  arms  and  provisions  ;  agent  for  a  machine  to  engrave 
circular  lines ;  editor  of  the  little  free  port  newspaper  of  Hamburgh  ;  political 
squib  writer  in  the  United  States ;  clerk  in  a  third-class  house  of  business ; 
translator  of  manuscript  for  Italian  friars. 

Vain,  amusing,  garrulous,  scandalous  old  fellow ;  with  the  dryest  common 
sense,  that  is  not  to  be  tricked ;  with  the  keenest  eye  for  a  defect,  either  in  per- 
son or  character,  and  a  bitter  or  comic  humor  to  help  him  in  describing  it,  Mr. 
Vincent  Nolte  presents  to  our  eyes  one  of  the  most  curious  life-panoramas  that 
it  is  possible  to  see. 

You  must  take  his  personalities,  especially  about  people  here,  cum  grano 
salis.  He  seldom  looks  at  the  bright'  side  of  a  character,  and  dearly  loves — he 
confesses  it — a  bit  of  scandal.  But  he  paints  well,  describes  well,  seizes  charac- 
teristics which  make  clear  to  the  reader  the  nature  of  the  man  whom  they 
illustrate. 

The  amount  of  really  useful  information,  historical,  commercial,  artistic,  and 
personal,  in  this  work,  is  immense ;  and  it  is  so  interspersed  with  anecdote  and 
adventure,  with  variety  and  scandal  "  of  a  pleasant  tartness,"  that  all  heaviness 
is  destroyed,  and  the  book  is  as  delightful  as  a  novel. 

"We  expect,  of  course,  from  the  reading  world,  even  more  than  a  usual 
warmth  of  welcome  for  this  entertaining  work. 

THE  TRANSLATOR 


INTRODUCTION. 


Kind  Eeader  !  whatever  the  chance  that  has  given  me 
the  right  to  address  you,  and  has  placed  this  book  in  your 
hands,  I  must,  of  necessity,  look  for  you  in  one  of  the  three 
following  categories : 

Either  you  belong  to  that  very  large  number  of  indivi- 
duals who,  up  to  the  present  time,  have  neither  known, 
heard,  nor  read  any  thing  about  me : 

Or,  to  the  smaller  number  who  have,  only  here  and  there, 
cast  a  glance  at  the  proofs  of  my  literary  activity  ;  but  are, 
still,  altogether  unacquainted  with  me  and  the  events  of 
my  life : 

Or,  finally  ;  to  those  who,  under  the  inevitable  condition 
of  incomplete  or  untrue  representations,  have  become  more 
or  less  acquainted  with  me,  have  heard  all  sorts  of  things 
about  me,  or  have  learned,  at  least,  my  name. 

From  each  and  every  member  of  these  three  classes  I 
may  expect  the  question :  What  are  you  going  to  offer  us, 
when,  in  the  title  of  your  book,  you  speak  of  the  Reminis- 
cences of  a  Former  Merchant,  extracted  from  the  History  of 
a  Life  which  has  embraced  the  first  half  of  the  present  cen- 
tury? Do  you  merely  intend  to  narrate  the  mercantile 
observation  and  experience  of  a  man  wholly  given  up  to 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

commercial  pursuits ;  or  have  we  to  deal  with  one  whom 
his  business-occupations  have  not  prevented  from  looking 
carefully  at>  things  a-rounB  ii^m].  and  noting  the  great  events 
of  his  time,  nor.  from  obtaining  personal  information  and 
availing  'xiiinsklf'  b£'  dp£ortu*iaitiss  to  observe  distinguished 
characters,  both  in  and  out  of  his  own  calling,  one  who  has 
been  able  to  form  and  retain  unprejudiced  views,  and  has, 
during  his  own  career,  experienced  the  ups  and  downs  of 
fortune,  the  vicissitudes  of  human  existence  and  the  conse- 
quences of  human  error?  Should  your  inquiries,  dear 
reader,  embody  the  last  words  I  have  used,  you  have, 
indeed,  hit  the  nail  on  the  head, — since  they  convey  pre- 
cisely the  tenor  of  much  the  greater  portion  of  the  histor- 
ical and  biographical  sketches  you  will  find  in  this  work. 
Truth,  and  not  poetry,  composes  the  contents  of  the  book 
you  now  hold  in  your  hand. 

Neither  the  private  individual  nor  the  business-man  who 
gives  extracts  from  his  biography  over  to  publicity,  can  often 
escape  the  suspicion  of  inordinate  vanity  and  a  blind  over- 
estimate of  his  own  merit  or  of  the  part  he  has  played  in 
society.  As  feelings  of  that  kind  have  not  exerted  any  in- 
fluence, in  the  present  case,  it  is  my  duty  to  say  a  word 
regarding  the  motive  in  which  these  pages  have  had  their 
real  origin. 

If,  out  of  the  panoramic  whirl  of  my  varying  fortunes 
and  experiences,  no  other  recollections  remained  to  me  than 
such  as  have  reference  to  the  life  of  a  merchant,  solely,  you 
might  well  conclude,  dear  reader,  after  what  I  have  said 
above,  that  I  should  never  have  so  far  yielded  to  the  nume- 
rous and  repeated  solicitations  of  many  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances on  both  sides  of  the  Ocean,  who  have  long  been 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

urging  me  to  this  step,  as  to  let  the  resolve  ripen  within  me 
to  depict  in  a  continuous  narrative  the  most  remarkable 
epochs  of  that  important  period  of  the  world's  history 
through  which  I  have  lived ;  and,  so  far  as  I  have,  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  participated  in  them  or  witnessed 
them,  to  set  forth  the  stirring  events  of  the  last  half  century 
in  a  recital  which,  apart  from  all  personal  connection  with 
the  author,  might  possess  some  attraction  for  the  public  at 
large.  However,  very  early  in  life  and,  indeed,  at  an  age 
when  one  is  usually  regarded  as  unripe  for  the  proper  con- 
sideration of  important  interests,  chance,  going  hand-in- 
hand  with  the  remarkable  development  of  the  world's  his- 
tory that  has  taken  place  since  I  entered  upon  my  allotted 
sphere  of  activity,  has  brought  remarkable  events,  remark- 
able men,  and  extraordinary  business- combinations  directly 
under  my  eyes,  has  kept  my  mental  faculties  in  constant 
exercise  and  has  made  me  acquainted,  nay,  has  frequently 
placed  me  in  close  contact  with  a  succession  of  distin- 
guished personages.  Under  these  circumstances,  I  have 
indulged  the  belief  that  what  I  have  to  communicate  to  my 
readers  in  these  pages,  might  awaken  not  merely  a  certain 
curiosity,  but  probably  something  more  than  a  simply 
transient  interest,  and  not  only  excite  their  attention,  but 
possibly  keep  it  alive  to  the  end,  so  that,  in  a  general  point 
of  view,  they  will  reap  some  gratification,  or,  at  all  events, 
some  profit  from  the  faithful  reflection  of  certain  truths 
which,  I  flatter  myself,  I  have  learned  during  the  lapse  of 
a  not  unimportant  portion  of  the  history  of  our  time.  At 
any  rate,  they  may  discover  in  this  work  much  that  is  use- 
ful, much  that  is  new,  and,  taking  it  altogether,  find  it  not 
entirely  worthless  entertainment  for  a  leisure-hour.     The 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

history  of  my  experience  in  practical  life, — at  least  such 
has  been  my  own  impression, — should  lead  all  thoughtful 
minds,  as  well  as  every  reflecting  reader  occupied  with  the 
advancement  of  his  own  mental  culture  and  moral  perfec- 
tion, to  the  conviction  that,  at  the  opening  of  each  new 
epoch  in  our  lives,  as  we  progress  from  stadium  to  stadium 
along  the  toilsome  way,  we  commence  and  must  pass 
through  a  fresh  novitiate  which  brings  with  it  tests  and 
trials  more  or  less  severe.  Hence,  the  necessity  of  contin- 
ual self-examination  and  an  untiring  watch  over  our  present 
as  well  as  prospective  relations,  in  so  far  at  least  as  the  latter 
can  be  calculated ;  and  in  this,  perhaps,  lies  the  instruction 
that  these  volumes  may  contain.  For  1  confess,  without 
hesitation,  that  I  have  not  always,  in  the  course  of  my 
career,  been  able  to  keep  this  rule  before  my  eyes. 

Permit  me  to  make  one  or  two  further  remarks.  That 
mercantile  experiences,  observations  and  views  occupy,  in 
one  place  or  another,  a  not  unimportant  space  in  these  pages, 
is  the  natural  consequence  of  the  relations  and  circum- 
stances in  which  I  have  lived ;  but,  however  dry  reminis- 
cences and  reflections  of  this  kind  may  be  to  the  general 
reader,  I  hope,  at  least,  that  I  have  clothed  them  in  language 
so  comprehensive  that  even  the  reader  least  familiar  with 
commercial  affairs,  will  not  deny  them  a  certain  degree  of 
interest,  especially  since  they  refer  back  to  periods  of  which 
we  could  at  the  present  day  form  but  an  imperfect  idea, 
without  some  proper  land-mark,  and  which  cannot  be  alto- 
gether useless  to  the  young  merchant. 

Whoever,  in  memoirs  of  this  kind,  strays  from  the  strict- 
est path  of  truth,  diminishes  their  value  and  invades  the 
regions  of  romance.     The  measure  of  respect  which  I  feel 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

for  the  truth  will  be  found  by  you,  dear  reader,  in  the 
frankness  with  which  I  have  spoken  in  relation  to  myself 
and  the  vicissitudes  of  my  own  life.  I  have  suppressed 
nothing,  misrepresented  nothing,  but  have  laid  myself  open 
to  the  eyes  of  all ;  thoroughly  disclosing  what  I  am,  and 
where  and  how  the  influence  of  circumstances  which  so 
very  often  deceive  the  highest  powers  of  foresight  possessed 
by  men,  has  not  unfrequently  controlled  my  position  and 
actions.  I  bring  you  without  hesitation  what  is  not  in  the 
power  of  every  one  to  bring, — the  offering  of  thorough 
rectitude  of  intention,  convinced  that  you  will  not  with- 
hold from  me  the  consideration  and  allowance  to  which  I 
believe  I  may  lay  rightful  claim,  without  putting  your 
good  will  to  too  severe  a  proof. 

To  my  contemporaries  whose  names  appear  in  these 
pages,  I  am  at  all  times,  as  in  duty  bound,  ready  to  render 
full  account.  In  reviewing  the  past,  no  one  is  brought 
before  the  public  who  would  have  been  entitled  to  remain 
in  the  background  without  occasioning  an  injurious  void 
in  the  connection  of  my  memoirs  and  reminiscences,  and 
without  leaving  very  perceptible  gaps  in  my  descriptive 
sketches.  Placing  them  upon  the  same  platform  with  my- 
self, before  the  reader's  judgment,  I  share  whatever  fate 
befalls  them,  since  I  voluntarily  resign  the  right  of  making 
any  reply  in  self-defence,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the 
changes  of  human  life  have  placed  it  in  my  power  and 
taken  it  away  from  them.  No  one  could  ask  for  more. 
The  old  motto  :  de  mortuis  nil  nisi  bene,  under  the  sanction 
of  which  so  much  falsehood  has  been  served  up  to  a  credu- 
lous posterity,  has  been  regarded  by  me  only  in  those  cases 
where  unblemished  reputations  have  made  praise  a  duty, 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

or,  I  might  say,  almost  unavoidable ;  but,  where  historical 
Truth,  in  order  to  assert  her  rights  without  regard  to  any- 
minor  or  unworthy  considerations,  demands  the  voice  of 
censure,  I-  have  not,  indeed,  entirely  abandoned  the  accents 
of  palliating  moderation,  but  have  still  given  full  scope  to 
the  safer  motto :  de  mortuis  nil  nisi  vere  !  and  allowed  a 
sportive  but  yet  kindly  humor  of  my  own  to  have  its  way. 

THE  AUTHOR 


CHAPTER  I. 

REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S  BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH. 

Leghorn,  his  birth-place,  in  17*79 — Journey  to  Hamburgh,  in  1*788 — Visit  to 
Leghorn,  1791-1792 — Return  to  Hamburgh,  in  1792 — Professor  C.  F.  Hipp 
of  Tiibinjen,  his  first  and  only  instructor — Commencement  of  his  mercantile 
career,  in  the  House  of  Messrs.  Otto  Franck  and  Co.  at  Leghorn,  in  1795 — 
Entry  of  the  French  into  Leghorn,  under  General  Bonaparte,  1796 — 
General  Murat — Major  Hullin — The  popular  representatives  Garat  and 
Salicetti — Sojourn  at  Florence — The  villa  Pandolfini,  in  1797 — Return  to 
Hamburgh — French  theatre  in  Hamburgh — The  commercial  crisis  at  Ham- 
burgh, in  the  year  1799 — Sojourn  at  Hamburgh — Altered  family  circum- 
stances— Determination  to  leave  the  place — Departure  from  Hamburgh 
in  1804. 

If  it  be  true,  as  Louis  the  Fourteenth  was  the  first  to  say,  and 
as  Louis  the  Eighteenth  repeated,  that  "  punctuality  is  the  polite- 
ness of  kings"  — "  V exactitude  est  la  politesse  des  rois" — it  is  still 
more  true,  that,  to  a  merchant,  punctuality  is  the  first  source  of 
his  credit,  and  that  in  it  lies  one  of  the  vital  conditions  of  his  suc- 
cess. My  good  father,  who  destined  me  to  mercantile  pursuits, 
and  who,  even  in  my  earliest  years,  sought  to  impress  upon  my 
mind  the  precepts  of  social  and  mercantile  rectitude,  did  not  fail 
to  offer,  in  his  own  person,  the  most  striking  example  of  his 
respect  for  that  excellent  quality.  He  married  on  February  22d, 
1779,  at  the  age  of  forty,  and  was,  thenceforward,  assisted  in  his 
cultivation  of  the  virtue  he  so  much  admired,  by  my  mother  who, 
by-the-by,  was  punctual  in  all  she  undertook,  for  she  brought  me 
into  the  world  on  November  21st,  or,  precisely  at  the  termination 
of  the  nine  regular  months  prescribed  by  the  laws  of  nature. 

Tuscany  is  the  land  of  my  birth,  and  the  city  in  which  ifc 


IS  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

occurred  is  Leghorn,  where  my  father  John  Henry  Nolte  a  native 
of  Hamburgh,  had  acted  as  apprentice  and  shop-boy,  at  first,  in 
the  house'  oF  his  uncle  'Otto  -F?ranck,  but  during  the  last  fifteen 
years  preceding  his  marriage,  had  officiated  as  a  partner  in  the 
concern*  j  .(Efts  pttofe'^d  teen  brought  up  in  England,  and  was 
married  to  an  English  lady.  He  had  taken  my  father,  when  only 
nine  years  of  age,  from  Hamburgh,  and  sent  him  to  college  at 
Exeter,  in  England,  where  the  boy  was  raised  and  educated  at 
his  expense,  until  he  called  him  away,  in  his  sixteenth  year,  to 
Leghorn. 

My  father  was  unable  to  make  good,  from  the  barbarous  style 
of  mercantile  correspondence  in  use  at  that  period,  what  he  had 
lost  of  his  mother  tongue  during  his  seven  years'  sojourn  in  Eng- 
land ;  but  in  its  stead,  he  had  learned  the  English  language  in 
uncommon  perfection,  and  continued  to  speak  it  for  the  remainder 
of  his  life  with  especial  preference.  But  still,  his  uninterrupted 
residence,  of  more  than  thirty  years  in  Italy,  always  made  him 
look  upon  that  country  as  his  real  home ;  and  thus  the  two  lan- 
guages, English  and  Italian,  became  a  sort  of  second  nature  to 
him,  while  the  German,  as  was  to  have  been  expected,  remained 
a  merely  secondary  convenience.  He  had  probably  never 
received  correct  tuition  in  it,  so  incorrectly  and  ungrammatically 
was  he  accustomed  to  write  it. 

At  the  college,  in  Exeter,  there  sprang  up  between  him  and  a 
school-mate  named  Francis  Baring,  the  son  of  a  cloth  manufac- 
turer, an  intimate  friendship,  which  continued  to  subsist  until 
1811,  when  Baring,  who  had  in  after  years  become  remarkable 
as  the  originator  and  founder  of  the  great  London  firm  of  the 
same  name,  died.  There  is  yet  extant,  in  the  hands  of  his  chil- 
dren, a  collection  of  Biblical  sayings  and  book  extracts,  written  by 
my  father  at  Exeter,  in  the  year  1754,  and  also  containing  the 
autograph  of  his  friend  Baring.  When  my  father  visited  Eng- 
land in  1772  this  old  friendship  was  renewed,  during  a  business 
and  pleasure  trip,  undertaken  by  Baring  and  himself,  through 
England  and  Scotland,  and  led  to  a  closer  business  connection 
between  the  then  London  firm  of  John  and  Francis  Baring  and 
my  father's  house  in  Leghorn,  Otto  Franck  and  Company.     The 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  19 

necessities  of  the  Messrs.  Baring,  who  had  to  import  dye-stuffs 
and  like  materials  from  Italy  for  the  cloth  manufactory,  established 
and  afterwards  enlarged  by  them,  in  Exeter,  as  well  as  for  other 
similar  establishments,  had  laid  the  foundation  of  this  business 
connection.  I  shall,  in  the  course  of  my  present  work,  have  occa- 
sion, in  relating  my  own  very  considerable  intercourse  with  the 
successors  of  the  respected  London  firm,  to  return  to  the  family. 
My  readers,  probably,  feel  as  little  anxiety  as  I  do  myself,  to 
learn  what  was  the  real  origin  of  my  family,  which  I,  God  only 
knows  why,  have  always  taken  to  be  Italian.  I  recollect  having 
heard  my  father  say  that  his  grandfather  had  owned  large  mills 
in  the  vicinity  of  Carlshamm,  in  Sweden.  How,  in  the  name  of 
sense,  this  circumstance  could  ever  have  put  it  into  my  head  that 
my  family  was  of  Italian  descent,  I  cannot  imagine.  But  when, 
after  a  residence  of  several  years,  at  a  later  period  of  my  life,  in 
Trieste,  I  was  about  to  leave  that  city,  chance  threw  a  kind  of  key 
to  the  mystery  in  my  way- — although,  as  I  have  already  remarked, 
I  never  gave  myself  much  trouble  about  the  matter.  There  then 
lived,  and  if  I  am  not  greatly  mistaken,  still  live  at  Trieste,  three 
merchants  by  the  name  of  Vogel,  one  of  whom,  owing  to  his 
extensive  dealings  in  coffee,  was  nicknamed  the  Coffee  Vogel ; 
the  other,  on  account  of  his  business  as  agent  for  several  commer- 
cial houses,  was  called  the  Wandering  Vogel ;  and  the  third,  who 
had  obtained  from  the  Austrian  government  the  exclusive  privi- 
lege of  selling  what  amount  of  poisonous  drugs  were  required  for 
consumption  and  exportation,  was  universally  known  as  the 
Poison  Vogel*  It  was  the  latter  who,  a  few  days  before  my 
departure  from  Trieste,  took  it  into  his  head  to  give  me  a  gleam 
of  light  concerning  my  ancestors ;  and  told  me,  with  great  gravity, 
that  he  had  accidentally  been  reading  the  chronicles  of  an  old 
Austrian  general  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  had  learned  from 
them  that  two  commanders  of  Lombard  regiments  belonging  to 
his  corps  (Parmee,  had  taken  French  leave,  and  gone  over  to  the 
camp  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.     One  of  these  two,  he  added,  was 

*  These  three  German  words  mean,  respectively,  the  coffee-bird,  bird  of 
passage,  and  poison-bird.  Hence,  the  spirit  of  the  joke  is  greatly  impaired  by 
translation. 


20  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

called  Nolte  :  this,  he  seemed  to  consider,  explained  the  riddle 
of  my  Swedish  and  yet  Italian  origin,  beyond  a  doubt ;  for,  that 
the  Swedish  miller  Nolte,  in  Carlshamm,  was  descended  from  the 
Lombard  deserter  of  the  Austrian  army,  appeared  to  him  a  nat- 
ural consequence  and  a  matter  of  course. 

I  had  just,  a  short  time  previously,  entered  my  ninth  year, 
when  my  father  formed  the  resolution  of  leaving  Leghorn  and 
removing,  with  his  whole  family,  which  then  consisted  of  my 
mother  and  myself,  one  brother  and  two  sisters,  to  Hamburgh,  for 
the  purpose  of  securing  to  his  children  all  the  advantages  which 
would  have  been  inaccessible  to  them  had  they  remained  longer 
in  Italy.  Upon  our  arrival  in  Hamburgh,  we  first  went  to  the 
Senator  Matsen,  my  grandfather  on  the  mother's  side,  who  was, 
just  at  that  time,  amtmann  in  Ritzebuttel.  Soon  after  our  return 
from  that  place,  I  was  placed  under  the  charge  of  a  half-English, 
half-French  tutor  by  the  name  of  Geris,  a  native  of  Jersey,  who 
was  then  carrying  on  an  educational  institute  for  boys  in  the  neigh- 
boring village  of  Oppendorf,  where  my  father  had  purchased  a 
country-seat  and  garden.  He  was  an  indolent,  ignorant  man,  who 
surrendered  the  whole  task  of  instructing'  his  pupils  to  all  kinds 
of  under-tutors,  and  gave  over  the  conduct  of  his  household  to  a 
menagere  who  was  inclined  to  accept  his  not  altogether  Platonic 
blandishments,  and  to  pack  off  the  dunces  who  amused  themselves, 
from  time  to  time,  by  disturbing  the  bacchanalian  exercises  which 
usually  preceded  those  endearments.  Some  recollections  of  this 
brief  period,  during  which  I  learned  nothing  but  to  steal  fruit  from 
the  orchard,  long  remained  fresh  in  my  memory.  My  most  inti- 
mate crony,  in  those  days,  Siegmund  Rucker,  who.  stood  for  so 
many  years  at  the  head  of  the  first  sugar-broker  business  of  the 
London  Exchange,  died  suddenly  last  summer,  in  his  74th  year, 
in  consequence  of  the  sudden  suspension  of  payments  by  his  firm. 
My  friendship  with  him,  renewed  in  subsequent  years  at  Leghorn, 
lasted  until  his  death. 

After  I  had  fooled  away  more  than  eighteen  months  in  this  par- 
ody of  an  educational  establishment,  my  father  was  obliged  to 
visit  Leghorn  on  business,  and  took  me  with  him,  without  any 
other  object  in  view,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned,  than  to  have  me 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  21 

with  him.  We  arrived  in  that  city  shortly  before  the  commence- 
ment of  the  carnival.  A  daily  visit  to  the  Opera  House  was  freely 
accorded  me  as  I  was  only  1 1  years  of  age,  and  known,  moreover, 
as  the  son  of  one  of  the  heaviest  shareholders  in  the  "Teatro 
degl'  avvalorati" ;  hence,  the  progress  of  my  education  became 
limited  to  the  dancing  hours  of  the,  then,  primo  ballerino  Gianfal- 
doni,  and  the  fencing  rehearsals  of  his  brother  who,  as  leader  of 
the  so-called  Grotesque  Quadrille,  without  which  no  ballet  was  con- 
sidered possible  at  that  time,  also  belonged  to  the  corps.  During 
the  performance  of  the  opera,  well-known  masks  are  received  into 
all  the  boxes,  in  Italy,  during  the  carnival  season.  So  I,  too,  was 
seized  with  a  fancy  to  try  my  skill  in  the  sport ;  but,  then,  where 
was  I  to  get  my  dress  ?  who  would  give  me  the  money,  which  was 
sure  to  be  refused  me  by  my  father  1  However,  I  managed  to 
overcome  all  these  difficulties.  When  I  was  setting  out  from 
Hamburgh  they  had  given  me,  among  other  things,  a  gala-jacket 
of  wonderfully  beautiful  red  cloth,  and  a  pair  of  white  cassimere 
breeches,  and  as  I  had  remarked  that  my  uncle,  who  had  succeeded 
my  father  not  only  in  the  management  of  the  Otto  Franck  estab- 
lishment, but  also  in  the  Hamburgh  Consulate  as  well  as  in  the 
use  of  the  identical  red  consular  coat  left  behind  him  by  his 
brother,  used  to  cut  a  very  ridiculous  figure  in  that  garment,  I  hit 
upon  the  idea,  and  quickly  determined  to  have  my  red  jacket  trans- 
formed into  a  miniature  consular  uniform,  and  to  appear  in  the 
theatre  as  the  "  Signor  Consolino  di  Amburgo,"  and  to  mimic  my 
uncle's  laughable  airs.  The  little  consul  created  a  perfect  furor. 
This  impudent  piece  of  roguish  invention  pleased  my  father 
amazingly,  but  the  one  who  never  forgave  me  was,  as  I  might  have 
expected,  my  good  aunt,  who  was  not  at  any  time  much  inclined 
to  be  amiable. 

In  the  following  spring  my  father  took  me  back  to  Hamburgh, 
and  looked  about  him  in  search  of  a  private  tutor  for  myself  and 
my  younger  brother  Henry.  A  truly  lucky  chance  for  me — I 
have  always  regarded  it  as  such,  at  least — brought  to  his  notice  a 
Suabian  graduate  who  pleased  him  at  first  sight,  and  was  imme- 
diately installed  in  our  house  as  tutor.  This  person,  a  native  of 
Tubingen,  who  afterwards  distinguished  himself  as  one  of  the 


22  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

most  valuable  teachers  in  Hamburgh,  and  who  has  fashioned  and 
stored  so  many  strong  intellects  and  left  the  impression  as  well  as 
the  traces  of  his  rare  talents  as  a  precious  legacy  to  his  scholars, 
was  the  future  Gymnasium  Professor  Carl  F.  Hipp,  whose  name 
has  never  ceased  to  live  in  the  grateful  recollection  of  his  former 
pupils,  but  has  remained  more  especially  stamped  indelibly  upon 
my  memory.  More  than  forty-eight  years  have  rolled  away  since 
I  was  withdrawn  from  his  charge,  to  return  to  Italy,  where  I  was 
to  enter  my  father's  establishment  as  an  apprentice  and  begin  my 
mercantile  career,  yet  I  still  look  back  with  emotions  of  pleasure 
to  the  time  when  I  enjoyed  the  instruction  of  that  excellent  man. 

He  had  always  known  how  to  gratify  my  restless  love  of 
knowledge,  in  the  fullest  measure,  give  it  a  wholesome  direction, 
and  managed  to  stimulate  my  natural  diligence  in  such  a  degree 
that  I  never  failed  to  experience  especial  pleasure  in  accomplish- 
ing the  manifold  tasks  he  put  upon  me  to  be  learned  between 
afternoon  and  the  next  morning,  and  then  again  between  Saturday 
and  Monday,  and  I  felt  quite  proud  when  he,  one  day,  wrote  in  a 
report  of  my  general  behavior  and  proficiency,  word  to  the  effect 
that  with  my  many  perfect  recitations,  I  had  regularly  crushed 
him  to  the  ground.  I  arrived  at  Leghorn  with  this  burning  need 
of  activity  and  a  no  less  eager  zeal  for  progress  in  everything. 
I  there  found  my  friend  Riicker,  who  had  also  just  been  placed 
as  an  apprentice,  or  to  use  our  term,  a  volunteer,  in  the  counting- 
room  of  Messrs.  Hoist.  Conducted  the  very  next  morning  to 
the  office  of  Franck,  I  was  set  at  work,  of  course,  upon  the  A  B 
C's  of  the  mercantile  craft,  viz.  :  the  copy-books,  which  were  laid 
before  me  in  both  the  English  and  German  languages,  with  the 
intimation  that  making  correct  transcripts  of  the  letters  they 
contained,  in  either  tongue,  would  be  my  first  employment. 
The  gentlemen  letter-writers  were  of  the  usual  kind,  and  their 
wretched  style  and  language  wearied  me  to  the  utmost  limits 
of  endurance,  and  their  news  touching  oil  and  soap,  brimstone 
and  Spanish  liquorice  had  but  little  attraction  for  one  like  me, 
whom  my  honored  preceptor  had  inspired  with  a  refined  taste 
for  the  firstlings  of  Schiller's  Muse.  Thus  I  toiled,  most  unwil- 
lingly, without   any   zest  for  the  work  before  me,  and,  conse- 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  23 

quently,  executed  it  badly.  As  already  intimated,  the  guidance 
of  the  house  had  remained  in  the  hands  of  my  uncle,  a  very  weak 
man,  whose  facility  in  transacting  business  was  the  only  merit  he 
could  count,  to  say  that  he  had  one.  He  possessed  no  knowl- 
edge whatever  of  the  world  or  of  men,  and  gave  ready  heed  to 
the  suggestions  of  inordinate  vanity.  The  counting-room  of 
the  house  of  Otto  Franck  and  Co.  was  in  the  basement  of  the 
still  surviving  house  of  Franchetti,  adjoining  the  Mayoralty, — 
the  Piazza  della  Communita  —  on  the  corner  of  the  Piazza 
d'Arme.  To  come  strutting  out  of  the  office  entirely  bareheaded, 
with  no  cravat,  his  morning  gown  fluttering  about  him,  his  linen 
open  at  the  bosom  and  neck,  and  his  feet  decorated  with  a  pair  of 
red  Turkish  slippers,  and  parade  up  and  down  half  the  length 
of  the  square,  attended  by  a  train  of  gopds-and-money-brokers, 
he  gesticulating  (an  accomplishment  sometimes,  as  every  one 
knows,  often  more  readily  learned  in  Italy  than  the  language,)  so 
as  to  attract  the  notice  of  strangers  to  the  Capo  dela  casa,  Otto 
Franco,  as  he  was  generally  styled,  gave  him  rare  pleasure, 
which  nothing  but  bad  weather  could  compel  him  to  forego,  and 
even  then  the  sacrifice  was  a  sore  one.  It  was  out  of  the  question 
for  me  to  expect  any  valuable  instruction  or  correct  mercantile 
ideas  from  such  a  man.  It  never  entered  his  head  to  inspect  the 
progress  I  was  making  or  to  cheer  me  forward  and  sustain  me 
in  an  amiable  and  instructive  manner,  by  providing  certain  books 
which  the  knowledge  I  gradually  acquired  of  the  business  of  the 
house  from  its  correspondence,  and  the  trade  transactions  I  saw 
going  around  me,  made  me  consider  necessary.  On  the  contrary  ! 
One  day  he  took  the  notion  to  inspect  one  of  the  note  books 
upon  which  I  had  been  busied.  Mistakes  and  omissions  were 
instantly  discovered,  as  my  companions,  directly  afterwards, 
informed  me, — I  had  been  looking  for  some  slight  correction  or 
information,  but  not  a  trace  of  either  was  vouchsafed.  But, 
there  was  a  large  dinner  party  at  the  house  that  same  day.  It 
included  strangers  from  all  the  commercial  cities  of  Europe  and 
some  notabilities  of  Leghorn,  among  others  the  influential  and 
popular  advocate  Baldasseroni.  Of  course  I  could  not  then 
have  dreamed  that  fifty  years  later  I  should  be  so  familiar  with 


24  REMINISCENCES  OE  THE  AUTHOR'S 

that  man's  great  work  on  the  Insurance  System,  written  long 
after  the  period  of  which  I  speak.  I  was  sitting  at  the  lower 
corner  of  the  table.  Suddenly,  in  a  pause  of  conversation,  the 
voice  of  my  uncle,  who  was  sitting  at  the  upper  end,  rang  out 
with  the  following  words,  to  make  the  punishment  he  wished  to 
administer  the  more  impressive  and  severe  :  "  Vincent !  I  take 
this  opportunity  of  saying  to  you  that  it  is  long  since  I  saw  such 
careless  blundering  work  as  your  order-book  exhibits  !"  The 
effect  produced  by  this  abrupt  attack  upon  an  ambitious  youth 
of  fifteen  may  be  readily  conceived.  There  I  sat  under  the  gaze 
of  the  whole  company  as  though  I  had  been  struck  by  lightning 
and  utterly  annihilated,  but  at  length  managed  to  collect  my 
senses  sufficiently  to  reply  :  "  My  own  father,  had  he  been  here, 
would  not  have  taken  advantage  of  such  an  occasion  as  this  to 
heap  reproaches  upon  me," — then  to  spring  up  from  my  seat,  and 
making  for  the  door,  draw  it  to  after  me  with  great  violence. 

Such  scenes  as  this,  for  the  entertainment  of  his  necessarily 
invited  guests,  were  not  at  all  uncommon  with  my  uncle.  I  need 
not  say  to  my  readers  that  they  inspired  me  with  no  respect  for 
him,  and  were  not  at  all  calculated  to  increase  my  attachment  to 
a  mercantile  life  ;  which,  from  the  first,  had  been  forced  upon  me, 
instead  of  having  been  voluntarily  selected.  My  mind  had 
acquired  an  artistic  turn,  and  my  predilection  for  painting  made 
me  wish  to  become  a  painter.  I  wrote  to  that  effect  to  my  father, 
but  much  as  he  respected  art,  and  although  he  was  himself  an 
amateur,  and  by  no  means  a  bad  judge  of  pictures,  he  still  curbed 
my  wishes,  by  upsetting  me  with  the  remark,  that  unless  I  felt  an 
inward  conviction — that  unless  I  could  elevate  myself  into  a 
painter  of  the  highest  order,  I  should  often,  during  my  life,  have 
to  feed  on  crusts.  In  saying  this,  my  good  father  overlooked  two 
essential  qualities  which  I  possessed,  and  which  might  well  have 
led  a  young  painter  to  his  aim.  One  of  these  was  a  powerful 
imagination,  which,  as  early  as  my  eighth  year,  enabled  me,  with- 
out having  enjoyed  any  instruction  in  drawing,  to  make  a  sketch 
with  charcoal,  on  a  white  garden  wall,  of  Marlborough's  funeral, 
according  to  the  French  popular  air,  "  Malbrouck  s'en  va-t-en 
guerre."     The  second  quality,  which  has  never  abandoned  me 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  £5 

throughout  my  whole  life,  is  diligence  and  iron  perseverance.  I 
still  fancy  that  I  should  have  made  no  mean  painter,  had  free  rein 
been  given  to  my  own  earnest  wishes. 

Neglect  of  my  office  duties  was  a  natural  consequence.  I  went 
after  all  sorts  of  amusements,  drew  caricatures  on  my  letter- 
stand  in  the  counting-room,  frolicked  for  hours  together  with  my 
friend,  the  young  and  universally  beloved  painter  Terreni,  who 
was  a  great  fop,  and  had  the  mania  of  aping  the  dress  and  man- 
ners of  the  Englishmen  who  from  time  to  time  made  their 
appearance  in  Leghorn.  This  disease,  thanks  to  his  illustrious 
example,  took  root  in  my  breast  too ;  and  whenever,  during  the 
course  of  the  week,  I  could  see  a  newly  arrived  visitor  among  the 
English,  who  at  that  time  were  so  constantly  noticed  at  Leghorn, 
but  more  especially  at  Florence,  and  could  on  the  ensuing  Sun- 
day exhibit  myself  on  the  Corso  attired  in  a  similar  costume,  I 
was  supremely  happy.  The  tailor  had  received  no  order  forbid- 
ding him  to  let  me  have  clothes,  and  his  account  at  the  end  of  the 
year  presented  the  not  inconsiderable  sum  total  of  twelve  coats, 
of  all  colors,  and  twenty-two  pair  of  hose  and  pantaloons,  which 
were  just  then  coming  into  fashion.  By  the  way,  this  was  a  hered- 
itary propensity.  So  long  as  he  lived  in  Italy,  my  father  had 
paid  great  attention  to  his  toilet,  and  when  he  left  Leghorn,  he 
took  with  him  to  Hamburgh  a  whole  wardrobe  of  embroidered 
and  laced  coats  of  all  colors,  from  his  bottle-green  gold-laced 
wedding  coat,  lined  with  poppy-colored  satin,  and  worn  with  hose 
to  match,  to  a  simple  coffee-colored  frock — all  of  French  cut  and 
make.  After  a  time,  he  sold  the  collection  to  Schroder,  then  the- 
atrical manager  at  Hamburgh.  The  wardrobe  in  question  had 
become  very  familiar  to  us  all,  from  the  regular  quarterly  brush- 
ings  and  dustings  it  got — and  I  have  a  very  lively  recollection  of 
what  occurred  some  time  subsequent  to  the  sale,  in  the  theatre — 
whither  we  had  gone,  to  see  Schroder  himself  in  the  part  of 
Count  Klingsberg,  in  his  comedy  "  Die  Ungluckliehe  Ehe  au;- 
Delicatessen" — ("Too  much  refinement  makes  unhappy  matches.") 
When  Schroder  appeared,  my  eldest  sister,  since  Madame  Berke- 
meyer,  recognized  the  familiar  garment  he  wore,  and  shouted  out., 
2 


26  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

"  That's  papa's  coat !  That's  papa's  coat !"  or,  to  use  the  Hair 
burgh  phraseology,  "  That's  papa,  his  coat !" 

My  uncle  was  altogether  dissatisfied  with  me.  I  cannot  con- 
jecture what  ideas  he  formed  as  to  the  causes  of  my  frequent  ab- 
sence from  the  counting-room,  although  he  knew  that  I  often  re- 
paired to  the  stable  and  went  off  on  horseback.  But  the  vicinity 
of  the  aforesaid  stable  was  a  dangerous  one, — for,  in  the  opposite 
house  there  lived  all  sorts  of  sirens,  in  the  persons  of  two  or  three 
right  pretty  ballet-girls.  He  hit  upon  the  lucky  thought  of  com- 
ing to  an  arrangement  with  the  Barigello,  the  captain  of  the  sbirri 
or  policemen,  to  have  him  watch  my  movements  and  make  a  daily 
report  to  him.  One  of  the  Swiss  porters,  usually  styled  facchini, 
belonging  to  our  house,  who  had  taken  a  liking  to  me,  noticed  the 
spy's  hang-dog  countenance  in  the  vicinity  of  our  office  every  day, 
and  soon  perceived  the  sort  of  surveillance  to  which  I  was  sub- 
jected. Greatly  astonished  at  my  uncle's  course,  he  informed  me 
of  it,  and  pointed  out  the  policeman  who  was  watching  me  and 
my  movements.  On  the  next  day,  the  instant  I  observed,  to  use 
Schiller's  expression  in  Fiesco,  the  confiscated  face  of  this  fellow, 
I  pounced  upon  him  with :  cosa  volete,  birbante  ?  [what  do  you 
want,  you  scoundrel  ?]  and  afterwards  repeated  the  agreeable  in- 
quiry every  time  I  saw  him.  The  well  laid  plan,  thus  being  dis- 
covered, had  to  be  given  up,  partly  because  it  must  have  been 
evident  that  I  was  on  the  look-out,  and  partly  in  consequence  of 
the  fact  that  the  report  amounted  to  the  same  thing  every  day, 
not  forgetting  either  the  ballet-girls,  or  my  excursions  on 
horseback. 

But,  a  remarkable  historical  epoch  was  just  then  opening, — an 
epoch  destined  to  exert  the  greatest  influence  on  the  face  of 
Europe  both  territorially  and  politically.  It  affected  my  career 
in  the  obscure  condition  of  an  apprenticed  clerk  in  one  of  the  first 
mercantile  houses  of  Leghorn,  where,  like  a  young  colt  taken  from 
its  parent,  I  spurned  the  authority  placed  over  me,  in  the  person 
of  my  ridiculous  uncle,  and  rebelled  at  every  measure  taken  to 
subdue  me.  This  tvas  the  invasion  of  Italy  by  the  French  Revo- 
lutionary army  under  Bonaparte,  and  the"  first  victorious  cam- 
paign of  that  leader  in  Lombardy,  whence  he  advanced  in  person 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  27 

with  a  considerable  division  of  his  force  into  Tuscany.  The  Eng- 
lish consul  at  Florence  had  managed  to  ascertain  the  direction  and 
route  to  be  pursued  by  this  column,  and  as  he  could  have  no 
doubt  in  relation  to  its  final  destination  and  object,  he,  at  once, 
dispatched  an  express  to  Mr.  Udney,  the  English  consul,  then  re- 
siding at  Leghorn.  The  courier  arrived  on  the  last  Saturday  of 
June,  1796,  and  his  appearance  was  followed  by  an  immediate 
assembling  of  all  the  English  merchants  in  Leghorn,  at  the  con- 
sulate. The  consul  advised  these  gentlemen  to  have  all  their 
goods  and  merchandise  conveyed,  as  soon  as  possible,  on  board  of 
the  English  ships,  then  lying  in  the  harbor,  and  to  put  themselves 
under  the  protection  of  a  British  squadron  which  was  cruising  off 
the  roads.  This  squadron  was  small  in  numbers,  but  commanded 
by  the  already  distinguished  Commodore  Nelson.  During  the 
whole  of  Sunday  until  late  at  night,  and,  then  again,  early  on 
Monday  morning,  unusual  activity  reigned  in  every  part  of  the 
minor  port  of  the  Darsena  so  called,  and  also  in  the  outside  harbor 
of  the  "  molo."  On  Monday,  about  noon,  the  last  ships  stood  out 
of  the  harbor  with  a  favoring  breeze.*  It  was  scarcely  two 
o'clock  when  word  was  suddenly  spread  through  the  city  that  a 
column  of  French  troops  were  advancing,  with  cavalry  at  their 
head,  on  Leghorn,  along  the  great  highway  leading  from  Pisa. 
As  the  mounted  force  reached  the  Porta  Pisa,  a  detachment  of 
them  galloped  directly,  outside  of  the  fortifications,  to  the  harbor- 
gate,  the  Porta  Colonella,  and  rode  straight  to  the  CasteW  Vecchio 
or  fort,  over  which  the  Tuscan  flag  was  waving.  All  at  once  we 
saw  the  flag  disappear  and  the  French  tricolor,  hitherto  unknown 
to  us,  run  up  in  its  stead.     At  the  same  moment,  a  few  cannon- 

*  Thiers  states  that  Bonaparte  broke  up  the  English  factory  at  Leghorn, 
and  that  he  did  not  succeed  in  capturing  all  the  English  ships.  The  truth 
is,  that  all  the  ships  escaped,  and  that  no  English  factory  existed  at  Leghorn. 
There  were  many  independent  English  houses  there  established,  like  the  houses 
of  other  nations,  but  no  such  thing  as  an  exclusive  English  company  existed. 
This  act  of  violence  was  committed  at  a  time  of  profound"  peace  with  France, 
so  far  as  we  were  concerned,  without  the  least  excuse.  Governor  Spanocchi 
was  reproached  with  having  extended  a  friendly  reception  to  emigres  and  foes 
of  the  Republic. 


28  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

shots  were  discharged  at  the  English  vessels  which  were  tacking 
out  of  the  harbor,  but  had  not  yet  reached  the  roads. 

Nelson  knew  what  he  was  about.  I  could  no  longer  restrain  my 
curiosity,  but  ran  out  into  the  large  street,  the  Strada  Ferdinanda, 
which  runs  in  a  direct  line  from  the  Porta  Pisa  to  the  Porto 
Colonella,  and  saw  at  the  head  of  the  cavalry  a  magnificent  rider, 
far  surpassing*  I  thought,  anything  of  the  kind  I  had  ever  pre- 
viously beheld,  who  galloped  in  and  alighted  at  the  door  of  th« 
Genoese  banker,  Dutremoul.  I  soon  learned  that  it  was  the 
famous  General  Murat.  This  was  between  two  and  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon.  About  six,  it  was  reported  that  General 
Bonaparte  had  reached  the  Porta  Pisa.  No  sooner  did  he  learn 
that  the  English  residing  at  Leghorn,  had  found  time  to  escape 
with  their  property,  than  he  burst  into  a  violent  rage.  Just  at 
this  moment,  Count  Spanocchi,  the  governor  of  the  city,  attired 
in  his  customary  uniform,  a  blue  coat,  red  waistcoat,  and  white 
breeches  (the  gala  uniform  consisted  of  a  white  coat  with  red  vest 
and  breeches),  and  surrounded  by  his  officers  and  the  first 
authorities  of  the  city,  approached  Bonaparte,  where  he  sat 
holding  in  his  horse,  and  was  about  to  offer  him  some  words  of 
welcome.  But  the  general  left  him  no  time,  for  he  cut  short  all 
the  fine  things  he  was  going  to  say  with  the  following  lecture  : — 
"  How  do  you  presume  to  appear  thus  in  my  presence  9  Do 
you  not  know  your  business  better  %  You  are  a  shameless  fellow, 
— a  traitor  to  the  country !  You  have  allowed  the  English  to 
escape,  and  shall  give  strict  account  of  it.  A  court-martial  shall 
be  instantly  set  over  you, — you  are  my  prisoner, — surrender 
your, sword!"  And  with  the  conclusion  of  this  Spanocchi 
vanished.  Bonaparte's  words  were  repeated  to  me  the  same 
evening  in  our  counting-room,  by  my  fellow-clerk,  Giacomini, 
who  had  squeezed  with  the  crowd  out  of  the  Porta  Pisa,  and  had 
heard  all  that  passed.  We  learned  next  day,  that  the  late  com- 
mandant of  the  city  had  been  placed  under  arrest  during  the  same 
night,  and  that  the  French  GTeneral  Vaubois  would  now  act  in  his 
place.  Scarcely  had  Bonaparte  entered  the  city  with  his  staff, 
and  ridden  to  the  grand  ducal  palace,  when  the  police  entered 
every  house  and  ordered  the  windows  to  be  illuminated,  under 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  *  29 

threat  of  severe  penalty,  in  case  of  disobedience.  The  single 
paper  then  issued  at  Leghorn,  appeared  next  morning  with  a 
flaming  account,  describing  the  arrival  of  the  victor  of  Lodi  and 
Areola,  with  an  additional  paragraph  stating  that  the  city  had  at 
once  been  voluntarily  illuminated.  Thus  I  got  a  very  fair  idea 
of  a  voluntary  illumination,  and  never  erred  in  after  life  as  to  the 
meaning  of  this  expression. 

About  eleven  o'clock  on  the  ensuing  day  all  the  foreign  consuls 
waited  upon  Bonaparte,  who  was  dismissing  them  very  abruptly, 
when  his  glance  happened  to  fall  suddenly  upon  my  uncle  in  his 
red  consular  uniform.  He  instantly  accosted  my  worthy  relative 
thus  : — "  What's  that  1  An  English  uniform  ]"  My  uncle,  over- 
whelmed with  confusion,  had  just  presence  of  mind  enough  left  to 
stammer  out :  "  No,  Padrone'''  (this  word  was  probably  borrowed 
from  the  street  corners).  "  No,  questa  e  Vuniforma  di  Amburgo  /" 
"  No,  master  (or  boss),  this  is  the  uniform  of  Hamburgh !" 
Having  thus  delivered  himself,  he  tried  to  get  away  ;  but  Bona- 
parte went  on  with  a  fierce  diatribe  against  everything  that  even 
looked  English,  thought  English  ideas,  or  could  have  any  inter- 
course whatever  with  England.  "  These  Englishmen,"  said  he, 
according  to  the  recital  of  my  uncle  when  returned  to  the  house, 
"  These  Englishmen  shall  get  such  a  lesson  as  they  never  heard 
of  before  !  I  march  now  on  Vienna,  and  then  farther  northwards, 
where  I  will  destroy  their  hiding  places  at  Hamburgh  and  other 
places  of  resort,  and  then  ferret  them  out  in  their  own  piratical 
nest !"  My  uncle  told  me  that  upon  this  outbreak,  he  could  not 
keep  himself  from  exclaiming  aloud,  Birbante  !  (villain !)  before 
the  whole  company  present,  but  that  the  sound  of  it  was  lost  in  the 
general  buzz  of  the  throng. 

However,  any  one  acquainted  with  my  uncle,  is  well  aware  that 
with  him  the  deed  was  often  far  behind  the  thought,  and  such  was, 
no  doubt,  the  case  in  the  instance  just  mentioned. 

On  the  Piazza  d'arme,  where  the  French  cavalry  checked  public 
circulation  with  especial  vigilance,  the  concourse  of  people  was  so 
great  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  make  one's  way  through 
the  crowd.  As  to  the  younger  employes  in  our  counting-room, 
of  whom  I  was  the  very  youngest,  our  porters  had  received  the 


30  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

strictest  directions  not  to  let  any  of  them  pass  out.  But  I  wanted 
to  see  the  young  hero,  the  man  of  the  day,  who,  although  not  yet 
twenty-eight  years  of  age,  had  made  such  havoc  among  the  gray- 
beard  commanders  of  the  Austrian  army,  and  could  not  make  up 
my  mind  to  stay  nailed  to  my  desk,  copying  news  concerning  oil, 
soap  and  Spanish  liquorice,  while  this  human  phenomenon  was  to 
be  seen  in  the  near  vicinity  ;  for  I  have  already  stated  that  the 
grand  ducal  palace  in  which  be  quartered,  was  separated  from  our 
establishment  only  by  the  mayoralty,  the  Palazzo  della  commit- 
nita.  So,  I  managed  to  slip  out  of  the  house  by  stealth,  and  to 
advance  a  few  steps  to  the  corner  of  the  street  whose  entrance  is 
formed  by  the  two  palaces.  Here  a  coach  was  in  attendance  for 
the  French  commander,  and  I  stood  by,  waiting  until  he  should 
come  out.  At  length  he  appeared,  surrounded  by  a  number  of 
officers.  I  saw  before  me  a  diminutive,  youthful-looking  man,  in 
simple  uniform  ;  his  complexion  was  pallid  and  of  almost  yellow- 
ish hue,  and  long,  sleek,  jet-black  hair,  like  that  of  the  Talapouche 
Indians  of  Florida,  hung  down  over  both  ears.  This  was  the 
victor  of  Areola  !  While  he  was  taking  his  place  on  the  right  hand 
seat  in  the  carriage  and  waiting  for  his  adjutant,  I  had  a  moment's 
opportunity  to  examine  him  with  attention  : — around  his  mouth 
played  a  constant  smile  with  which  the  rest  of  mankind  had,  evi- 
dently, nothing  to  do ;  for  the  cold,  un sympathizing  glance  that 
looked  out  of  his  eyes,  showed  that  the  mind  was  busied  else- 
where. Never  did  I  see  such  a  look  !  It  was  the  dull  gaze  of  a 
mummy,  only  that  a  certain  ray  of  intelligence  revealed  the 
inner  soul,  yet  gave  but  a  feeble  reflection  of  its  light.  Macbeth's 
words  to  the  ghost  of  Banquo  would  almost  have  applied  here  : 
"  there  is  no  speculation  in  those  eyes,"  had  not  what  was  already 
recorded  and  what  afterwards  transpired,  unmistakably  shown  the 
soul  that  burned  behind  that  dull  gaze.  At  last  the  coach  was 
driven  off — and  an  interval  of  seven  years  elapsed  ere  I  again  saw 
this  remarkable  man.  He  left  Leghorn  the  next  day.  I  must  not 
omit  mentioning  that  an  officer  of  colossal  but  symmetrical  pro- 
portions stood  at  the  carriage-steps  in  an  attitude  of  profound 
respect.  This  was  the  newly-appointed  city-major,  afterwards 
General  Hullin,  the  very  grenadier  who,  seven  years  previously 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  81 

to  the  period  of  which  I  am  speaking,  on  July  14th,  1789,  at  the 
storming  of  the  Bastille,  was  the  first  man  to  scale  its  walls,  and 
who  subsequently  attained  the  sad  eminence  of  being  made  presi- 
dent of  the  military  commission  who  were  ordered  to  try,  or 
rather  to  execute  the  unfortunate  Due  d'Enghien,  at  Vincennes. 
He  was  also,  after  the  battle  of  Jena,  made  Governor-general  of 
Berlin.  When  the  coach  was  gone,  the  by-standers  related  that 
Bonaparte  had  thrown  a  small  purse,  full  of  gold,  to  Hullin, 
with  wopds  to  the  effect  that  he  must  make  a  good  use  of  his  posi- 
tion, and  no  longer  be  such  a  simpleton  as  he  had  been  hereto- 
fore. Relata  repeto — for  I  neither  heard  nor  saw  any  thing  of 
this,  near  as  I  was  to  the  carriage. 

The  demeanor  of  the  French  army  in  Leghorn  was  unendurable 
to  the  inhabitants  of  that  city.  A  portion  of  their  most  valuable 
trade  was  taken  away  from  them,  viz.  :  their  commerce  with  Eng- 
land. Immense  masses  of  troops  were,  from  time  to  time, 
marched  through  the  city,  and  frequent  contributions  of  money, 
equipments,  &c,  were  levied.  The  troops  who  came  in,  ragged 
and  often  unshod,  left  the  place  as  soon  as  they  had  been  comfort- 
ably clothed,  and  provided  with  shoes  to  their  feet.  The  very 
sight  of  the  French  national  cockade  had  become  hateful  to  the 
eyes  of  all  the  inhabitants.  The  common  people  called  it  "  il 
pasticcino,"  the  patty-pie,  and  gave  vent  to  their  inward  dissatis- 
faction in  all  sorts  of  street-ballads,  one  of  which  I  still  vividly 
remember.  The  last  lines  of  it,  hitting  at  the  frequent  change  of 
troops  who  came  to  Leghorn  only  to  be  re-clad  and  get  a  new  out- 
fit, were  in  the  popular  dialect,  as  follows  : 

"  Io  cledevo  di  veder  fla  pochino, 
Che  se  n'andasser  via  questi  blicconi : 

Dia  Saglata  !  ne  vien  ogni  tautino 
Quasi,  quasi  dilei,  Dio  mi  peldoni  1 

0  che  anche  Clisto  polta  il  palticcino, 
O  che  i  Soplani  son  tanti  minchioni  !"* 

(In  English :    I  thought  that  we  should  have  seen  these  rascals 

*  The  real  word  used  here,  and  beginning  with  C,  was  of  a  much  lower 

character 


32  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

leave  the  place  in  a  short  time — Good  God  !  more  of  them  flock 
in,  every  moment !  A  man  might  almost  say — God  forgive  me  ! 
— that  either  Christ  himself  has  stuck  on  the  patty -pie,  or  that  our 
princes  are  only  so  many  chuckle-heads !) 

Leghorn  was  like  a  camp.  In  the  Piazza  d'arme  they  had  put 
up  the  statues  of  Liberty  on  a  broad  altar,  and  there  the  popular 
representatives  Garat  and  Salicetti  made  long  speeches  to  the  sol- 
diers at  every  daily  parade.  Business  was  at  a  stand-still,  in  all 
the  counting-houses,  our  own  not  excepted.  I  sauntered  about, 
made  sketches  of  the  French  soldiery  and  the  street-groups,  in- 
vented all  kinds  of  follies  to  pass  away  the  time,  and  spent  con- 
siderable sums  of  money.  Antonio  Antoni,  the  old  cashier  of 
our  establishment,  had  too  much  respect  for  the  son  of  his  former 
master  and  the  nephew  of  his  present  one,  to  deny  me  any  thing ; 
— so  he  gave  me  all  I  asked,  and  that  he  had  a  good  reason  for  so 
doing  and  for  keeping  me  in  a  good  humor,  was  afterwards  made 
manifest  by  the  circumstance  that,  through  my  uncle's  negligence 
in  looking  after  the  books  and  asking  for  a  yearly  balance-sheet, 
the  said  books  remained  four  years  in  arrear. 

When,  at  length,  by  the  advice  of  one  of  our  two  book-keepers, 
an  Englishman,  named  Henry  Betts,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
regulate  our  accounts,  a  gradual  peculation  of  about  sixty  thou- 
sand pezza  in  the  four  years  was  discovered.  The  other  book- 
keeper was  a  brother  of  the  unfaithful  cashier,  and  the  embezzle- 
ment was  thus  easily  explained.  Only  think  into  what  hands  I 
had  fallen,  to  practice  and  acquire  the  elements  of  commercial 
knowledge ! 

No  one  can  give  what  he  does  not  himself  possess  ;  and  if  my 
uncle  had  no  clear  conception  of  a  merchant's  true  value,  or  of  his 
own  duties  to  himself  and  others,  it  was  of  course  impossible  for 
him  to  impart  correct  ideas  to  me.  Yet,  all  that  I  should  have 
needed  was  here  and  there  a  hint  or  two  from  the  lips  of  an  expe- 
rienced and  cautious  man,  and  such  instruction  would  soon  have 
brought  me  back  to  the  right  path.  But  I  had  to  do  without  all 
this,  and  learned  to  feel  their  necessity  only  in  after  years.  For- 
tunately, my  good  sense  remained  unimpaired.  There  was  no 
one  to  store  my  mind  with  those  indispensable  requisites  which, 

4K   * 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  33 

as  my  predecessor  Benecke  says,  in  his  Memoirs  published  by 
his  family,  were  according  to  the  judgment  of  such  men  as  Brisch, 
Brodhagen,  Ebeling,  and  others,  absolutely  necessary  at  that  time, 
to  any  one  who  desired  to  attain  even  a  degree  of  perfect  acquaint- 
ance with  mercantile  science.     These  requisites  were — 

1.  An  intimate  theoretical  knowledge  of  the  whole  commercial 
system. 

2.  A  knowledge  of  all  commercial  regulations,  agreements,  and 
the  laws  of  trade  and  exchange. 

3.  The  possession  of  several  foreign  languages ;  for  instance, 
French,  English,  Spanish,  Italian,  etc.,  etc. 

4.  Facility  in  calculation  (Arithmetic). 

5.  A  knowledge  of  Chemistry. 

6.  Technology. 

7.  The  different  classes  and  qualities  of  manufactured  and  other 
goods,  and  their  materials. 

8.  Geometry  and  Mechanics  (Mathematics). 

9.  Physics. 

10.  Commercial  Geography. 

11.  The  history  of  Trade. 

12.  Natural  History  in  all  its  branches  ;  so  as  to  have  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  first  origin  of  various  products.  And,  finally,  when 
all  this  had  been  learned,  the  next  point  was — 

13.  Good  and  ready  penmanship ! ! ! 

Benecke  states,  with  perfect  frankness,  that  he  diligently  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  acquisition  of  all  these  things,  so  as  to  be 
competent  to  accept  a  place  in  some  counting-house.  What 
would  a  pupil  of  the  present  day  be  likely  to  say  to  any  one  who, 
as  he  first  presented  himself  in  the  counting-room,  should  ask  him 
if  he  had  gone  through  a  regular  mercantile  education  in  the  pre- 
paratory branches  detailed  above1?  Why,  most  assuredly  he 
would  make  his  escape  without  delay — and  so  should  I  have  done. 

Early  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1797  my  uncle  determined 
to  send  his  family  into  the  country,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Flor 
ence,  and  for  that  purpose  rented  the  Villa  Pandolfini,  close  by 
the  Grand  Ducal  pleasure  palace  called  the  Poggio  Imperiale,  in 
the  loveliest  part  of  the  little  village  of  San  Leonardo,  and  sent 

2* 


34  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

me  thither  to  keep  my  aunt  company,  but  without  appointing  me 
any  other  employment.  The  summer  slipped  away  in  daily 
morning  promenades  to  the  picture  gallery,  and  evening  strolls 
on  the  Ponte  della  Trinita,  where  the  fashionable  society  of  Flor- 
ence used  to  assemble,  the  gentlemen  nearly  always  bareheaded, 
but  provided  with  parasols  and  fans.  There  they  would  walk  to 
and  fro ;  and  thither,  every  evening,  among  the  throng  came  the 
fair  one  who  had  riveted  my  attention.  Just  opposite  to  the 
Villa  Pandolfini  lived  a  banker.  I  shall  not  now  mention  his 
name,  but  he  was  a  widower,  owned  the  villa  he  inhabited,  and 
was  often  visited  there  by  an  only  daughter.  This  banker  was 
the  person  through  whom  my  aunt  received  her  funds,  and  hence 
our  acquaintanceship  was  soon  formed.  The  two  young  people, 
that  is  to  say,  Mademoiselle  and  I,  were  mutually  pleased  with 
each  other.  I  had  begun  this  flirtation  as  a  mere  pastime,  but  my 
young  beauty  took  it  all  the  more  to  heart.  We  appointed  secret 
meetings  at  her  villa,  and  sometimes  even  in  Florence.  My 
aunt's  vigilance  was  aroused  by  these  proceedings,  and  she  forth- 
with wrote  to  her  husband  in  Leghorn,  that  I  would  inevitably 
put  myself  in  for  it,  as  we  used  to  say  at  Hamburgh.  My  uncle 
went  still  farther,  and  wrote  to  Mr.  Nolte,  sen.,  in  Hamburgh, 
that  I,  already  half  ruined,  in  both  body  and  soul,  was  now  in  a 
sure  way  to  go  headlong  to  the  devil,  unless  he  at  once  sent  for 
me  to  come  home. 

My  father's  orders  to  pack  me  off  to  him  were  not  long  in 
reaching  me,  and  in,  the  month  of  October,  my  uncle  Matsen,  on 
the  mother's  side  (afterwards  Consul  for  Hamburgh  at  Naples), 
conducted  me  back  to  my  parents.  A  few  days  of  bitter  re- 
proaches, on  account  of  prodigality  and  recklessness,  were  soon 
past,  and  my  father  set  me  to  work  in  his  own  counting-house, 
where  I  fell  to  with  such  persevering  zeal  and  diligence,  that  he 
was  pleased  with  me  beyond  measure,  and  in  the  very  next 
twelvemonth  intrusted  me  with  his  bank-book — a  mark  of  confi- 
dence seldom  bestowed  upon  so  young  a  man.  My.  father  saw 
that  if  I  had  received  no  proper  guidance,  employment,  and  en- 
couragement to  progress  in  my  calling,  it  must  have  been  his 
brother's  fault.     The  ready  ease  with  which  I  could  oversee  and 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  35 

manage  my  father's  business,  which  was  quite  simple,  left  me 
plenty  of  leisure  time.  I  had  acquired  great  fondness  for  the 
theatre,  and  visited  it  as  often  as  I  could.  Comedies,  dramas  and 
tragedies  were  collected  and  studied  with  eagerness,  and  the 
French  stage,  which  was  put  in  operation  at  Hamburgh  just  about 
that  time,  facilitated  the  enjoyment  of  my  extreme  preference  for 
everything  connected  with  the  theatrical  world,  which  occupied 
me  to  the  exclusion  of  other  side-pursuits,  and  exercised  all  the 
faculties  of  my  mind. 

The  arrival  of  a  most  excellent  company  of  players,  who  had 
been  driven  out  of  Brussels,  or  had  left  it  for  lack  of  sufficient 
support,  and  among  whom  were  several  performers  of  considera 
b'le  talent — for  instance,  the  dramatic  actors  Mees  and  Bergamin, 
and  the  baritone  singer  Deriibelle — occasioned  the  establishment 
of  this  theatre,  which  in  a  short  time  became  the  theatre  of  the 
Hamburgh  fashionables.  The  large  number  of  French  emigrants 
of  rank,  at  that  time  residing  in  Hamburgh,  and  also  the  attend- 
ance of  the  notabilities  of  Hamburgh  society,  secured  the  managers 
great  success.  The  contract  for  printing  the  play -bills  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  a  highly-noble  and  highly-wise  city  council 
printer,  named  George  F.  Schniebes,  who  looked  up  to  Benjamin 
Franklin  as  the  patron  saint  of  his  order,  and  did  his  best  to  imi 
tate  him,  at  least  in  dress.  For  he  too  wore  a  kind  of  fur  cap  on 
his  head,  mounted  a  pair  of  spectacles  on  his  nose,  and  appeared 
in  a  kind  of  morning-gown.  There  was  no  trouble  in  translating 
the  play-bill,  so  long  as  the  Lexicon  afforded  the  means  of  Ger- 
manizing the  French  titles — for  instance,  "  La  Caravane  du  Caire," 
or,  "  Felix  ou  l'Enfant  trouve."  But  whenever  the  dictionary 
was  at  fault,  in  regard  to  certain  words,  he  gave  them  the  nearest 
translation  possible,  "  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge  and  belief,"  as 
he  has  often  confessed  to  me.  The  first  of  these,  that  made  me 
roar,  was :  "  L'Amant  Statue,"  translated  by  Schniebes,  The  Stiff 
Lover.  The  next  was  "  (Edipe  a  Colonne"  CEdipus  at  Cologne. 
Aid  can  be  given  this  man,  I  said  to  myself,  maliciously,  with 
Schiller's  Robber  Moor,  at  the  end  of  his  great  play,  and  so  offered 
my  treacherous  assistance  to  the  city  council  printer  in  translating 
his  theatre  bills.      After  that  the  street-corners  were  decorated 


3f,  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

with  the  following  attractive  placards : — "  Le  Marechal  ferrant" 
— Marshal  Ferrant.  "  Les  precieuses  ridicules" — The  ridiculous 
treasures.  "  Nicaise  Peintre" — Painter  Nick.  "  La  Dinde  aux 
louis" — Louis'  Turkey.  "  La  veillee  et  la  matinee  villageoise" — 
The  old  woman  and  a  country  morning.  "Les  amants  prothees" 
— The  lovers  of  tea.  The  whole  town  laughed  at  these  absurd 
translations,  yet  it  greatly  displeased  Mr.  Schniebes  when  any 
one  tried  to  convince  him  that  folks  were  laughing  at  his  expense, 
in  coming  to  his  aid  with  such  translations.  His  invariable 
answer  was,  that  he  perfectly  understood  the  French  language  him- 
self, and  moreover  had  an  assistant,  upon  whose  knowledge  of 
languages  he  placed  full  reliance. 

Yet  a  play-bill,  received  from  Mayence,  put  me  to  shame,  and 
far  surpassed  anything  I  could  do  in  that  line.  It  ran  thus : — 
"  L'Abbe  de  l'Epee,  Instituteur  des  Sourds  muets" — The  Abbot 
of  the  Sword,  Instigator  of  Doves  and  dumb  people. 

But  the  year  1799,  a  disastrous  one  for  Hamburgh,  was  now 
upon  us.  Circumstances,  which  I  have  elsewhere  described,  occa- 
sioned, within  the  space  of  six  weeks,  some  136  failures,  amount- 
ing to  no  less  a  total  than  36,902,000  Marks  banco,  and  crippled 
or  prostrated  every  branch  of  business  and  business  connection. 
The  largest  of  these  failures  was  that  of  Messrs.  de  Dobbeler  & 
Hesse,  for  the  sum  of  3,100,000  Ms.  banco ;  the  next,  that  of 
J.  D.  Rodde,  for  2,200,000  Ms.  banco.  Of  all  the  rest,  only  the 
Messrs.  Nootnagel,  Schwartz  &  Roques,  who  failed  for  1,540,800 
Ms.  banco,  Bernhard  Roosen  Salomon,  Son,'  for  1,037,000  Ms., 
and  Axen  &  Hinsch,  for  360,000  Ms.  banco,  were  enabled  to 
resume  payment  in  a  short  time,  and  fully  satisfy  their  creditors. 
Many  considerable  houses  managed  to  settle  up  their  affairs  by 
quiet  private  agreement. 

During  this  convulsive  state  of  the  Hamburgh  Bourse,  the  Lon- 
don Exchange  bestirred  itself,  since  merchandise  and  bills  of  ex- 
change could  afford  no  immediate  relief,  at  a  time  when  discount 
had  risen  to  fourteen  per  cent.,  and  merchandise,  even  sugar,  had 
fallen  thirty-five  per  cent,  in  price,  to  render  aid  by  cash  remit- 
tances, and  procured  from  Government  the  use  of  the  frigate 
Lutine,  which  took  on  board  over  a  million  pounds  sterling  worth 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  37 

of  silver,  and  sailed  for  the  Texel.  I  need  not  describe  the  anxiety 
with  which  the  arrival  of  this  ship  was  looked  forward  to  ;  it  can  be 
readily  comprehended,  as  well  as  the  disappointment  that  followed, 
when  the  mournful  news  reached  us  that  the  frigate  ha<J  been 
wrecked  on  the  Dutch  coast,  near  the  Texel,  and  lost,  with  all  on 
board,  excepting  the  third  steersman,  who  alone  succeeded  in 
saving  his  life,  and  brought  the  disastrous  intelligence. 

However,  one  cheerful  recollection  remains  to  me  from  that 
gloomy  time.  It  relates  to  the  honorable  and  highly  esteemed 
house  of  the  Brothers  Kaufmann,  who  were  compelled,  by  the 
pressure  of  circumstances,  to  suspend  payment,  but  began  again  a 
short  time  afterwards,  and  completely  re-established  themselves. 
One  of  these  gentlemen,  who  had  just  married,  had  presented  his 
wife  with  a  ticket  *in  the  Hamburgh  City  Lottery.  The  highest 
prize  was  100,000  Marks  banco.  About  the  same  time  the  tick- 
ets of  a  lottery,  to  be  drawn  for  a  farm  worth  50,000  Prussian 
thalers,  in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Mecklenburgh,  were  put  in  circu- 
lation, and  the  winning  number  was  to  be  the  same  that  should 
draw  the  prize  in  the  Hamburgh  lottery.  Mr.  Kaufmann's  bride 
had  taken  it  into  her  head  to  purchase  the  same  number  as  the 
one  on  her  Hamburgh  ticket  in  the  farm  lottery,  and  make  a 
present  of  it  to  her  husband.  Fortune  favored  them  both, 
for  they  were  the  winners.  I  was  relating  this  anecdote  two 
years  ago  at  a  small  dinner  party,  when,  as  I  concluded,  a  gen- 
tleman sitting  opposite  to  me  remarked,  "  The  incident  you  have 
been  narrating,  Mr.  Nolte,  is  accurately  true,  for  the  parties  you 
mentioned  were  my  father  and  mother."  This  gentleman  was 
the  present  Syndic  Kaufmann. 

The  crisis  had  been  too  severely  felt  at  Hamburgh,  and  had 
affected  commercial  connexions  of  every  kind  too  thoroughly,  not 
to  bear  heavily  upon  my  father's  business,  and  even  threaten  to 
tear  it  from  its  hitherto  quiet  and  steady  current.  This  business 
consisted,  almost  exclusively,  in  the  collection  of  orders  and  con- 
signments for  the  Leghorn  house,  and  was  compelled,  in  view  of 
the  retrogression  of  all  enterprising  spirt  on  the  Hamburgh 
Bourse,  which  was  the  result  of  necessity,  to  contract  its  opera- 
tions in  proportion  as  the  English  and  French  war  placed  more 


38  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

and  more  obstacles,  in  the  way  of  everything  like  commerce,  to 
and  from  the  Mediterranean.  Neither  was  the  occupation  of 
Hamburgh,  in  the  spring  of  1801,  by  the  Danish  troops,  under 
Prince  Charles  of  Hesse,  exactly  calculated  to  enliven  the  custom- 
ary enterprising  spirit  of  our  Bourse. 

The  very  feeble  interest  awakened  in  me  by  my  father's  busi- 
ness, and,  to  tell  the  truth,  by  anything  that  related  to  commerce, 
allowed  me  to  look,  with  a  certain  degree  of  unconcern,  upon  a 
state  of  things  generally  critical  to  merchants  whose  capital  was 
only  moderate,  and  I  had  never  taken  the  trouble  to  find  out  the 
condition  of  my  father's  pecuniary  affairs.  He  had  never  mani- 
fested any  trace  of  anxiety  about  himself.  So  I  satisfied  myself  with 
a  conscientious  discharge  of  my  counting-room  duties,  and  then 
employed  my  abundant  leisure  time  with  a  variety  of  other 
things.  A  turn  for  writing  had  taken  hold  of  me.  A  paper,  then 
conducted  by  Court  Councillor  Spazier,  at  Leipsic,  and  entitled  a 
"  Gazette  for  the  World  of  Fashion,"  gave  me  an  opening  to 
write  some  sketches  of  social  matters  in  our  own  city,  which 
were  penned  with  a  certain  smack  of  humor,  accepted  by  the 
editor,  and  very  favorably  read  in  his  paper.  This  thing  pleased 
me  amazingly.  I  worked  at  night,  and  not  a  soul  in  Hamburgh 
ever  suspected  that  I  was  the  author  of  these  sketches. 

The  older  and  extensive  houses  of  Hamburgh  suffered  com- 
paratively little  in  the  crisis  I  have  described.  Hamburgh, 
whither  a  large  portion  of  the  French  emigration  had  directed 
their  steps,  and  which  served  as  a  place  of  refuge  to  a  part  of  the 
French  nobility  of  the  highest  rank,  and  had  received  and  shel- 
tered them  with  its  means  and  its  hospitality,  had  become  an  ex- 
tremely gay  and  sociable  place  of  residence.  In  front  of  the 
Dammthor,  in  the  direction  of  the  Grind-el-Allee,  had  lived  for 
some  time  Madame  de  Genlis,  Generals  Dumouriez  and  Valence ; 
even  the  Due  de  Penthievre  (afterward  King  Louis  Philippe), 
Prince  Talleyrand,  and  other  notabilities.  Several  of  them  were 
to  be  met  with  in  the  various  social  circles,  and  at  the  soirees  of 
Mr.  Peter  Godeffroy,  which  took  place  every  Wednesday  even- 
ing, might,  among  others,  have  been  seen  the  Baron  de  Breteuil, 
who  at  one  time  played  an  important  part  at  the  Court  of  Louis 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH  39 

XVI.,  had  been  styled  by  Chamfort  "  a  relic  of  the  olden  time," 
and,  notwithstanding  the  simplicity  of  his  life,  was  regarded  with 
great  respect  and  consideration.  He  attracted  my  attention  in  a 
very  particular  degree  by  his  imposing  presence  and  his  non- 
committal eye.  These  soirees,  too,  had  their  picture  drawn  in 
the  "  Gazette,"  but,  as  I  have  just  said,  no  suspicion  alighted  on 
me.  The  theatre  continued  to  be  my  favorite  study  and  pursuit. 
I  never  rested  until  I  had  completely  inoculated  my  friend,  Peter 
Godeffroy,  jr.,  with  my  mania  for  the  play ;  through  him  his  father 
caught  the  complaint,  and  it  spread  to  the  whole  family  ;  so  that 
at  length  the  French  architect  Ramee,  the  same  who  had  built 
our  first  Borsenhalle  (Exchange),  was  directed  to  put  up  a  stage, 
etc.,  in  the  large  establishment  of  Mr.  Godeffroy,  and  there,  in  the 
course  of  the  winter,  we  all  made  our  debut.  Our  company  con- 
sisted of  fourteen  persons,  and  among  them  four  ladies,  belonging 
to  the  first  families  in  Hamburgh.  Of  these,  Mr.  Godeffroy's  two 
daughters,  Madame  R.  Parish,  in  Niensteden,  and  Mrs.  General 
Ponsett,  in  the  Crimea,  are  yet  living.  Of  the  male  performers, 
I  am  now  the  only  survivor.  Senator  Ferdinand  Schwartz,  who 
died  some  years  ago,  displayed  much  talent  in  the  comic  line, 
when  the  part  happened  to  suit  his  peculiar  humor. 

During  the  two  succeeding  years  the  palmy  days  of  Ham- 
burgh's prosperity  were  fast  drawing  to  a  close.  The  business 
circumstances  of  my  father,  who  had  several  years  before  with- 
drawn from  the  Leghorn  house,  but  sank  a  considerable  sum  in 
its  failure,  which  occurred  about  this  time,  were  greatly  impaired  ; 
in  short,  he  came  back,  and,  without  making  the  slightest  attempt 
to  sustain  himself,  at  once  came  to  the  resolution  of  compounding 
with  his  creditors  for  eighty-five  per  cent.,  and  thus  swamped 
nearly  everything  he  possessed  in  the  world. 

One  of  his  numerous  friends  directly  afterwards  placed  in  his 
hands  an  accumulated  capital  of  120,000  marks  to  which  his  old 
ally  Sir  Francis  Baring,  Bart.,  also  contributed  20,000  marks  by  re 
linquishing  all  rates  for  interest,  and  this  sum  enabled  my  father  to 
recommence  business.  He  was  then  sixty-three  years  of  age,  and 
had  with  his  advancing  age  not  been  able,  after  settling  in  Ham- 
burgh, to  expand*  or  uplift  his  mercantile  ideas  and  combinations 


40  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S 

beyond  the  limits  of  an  experience  gradually  acquired  during  a 
long  career  at  Leghorn.  Every  thing  on  the  European  continent 
belonging  to  the  mercantile  profession,  and  which  the  iron  hand  of 
Napoleon,  that  deadly  foe  of  all  commerce,  had  not  yet  seized, 
had  soon  to  feel  its  weight  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  ;  the  usual 
avenues  of  legitimate  profit  were  gradually  narrowed,  and  at  last 
entirely  closed,  and  my  father  utterly  lacked  each  and  every  qual- 
ity requisite  to  the  invention  of  new  channels  and  sources  of  re- 
lief, not  to  say  that  he  had  neither  the  courage  nor  the  capital  to 
have  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  I  could,  therefore,  render  him 
no  assistance, — that  we  both  fully  understood.  He  rejected  every 
word  of  advice  I  ventured  to  offer  him,  as  the  idle  talk  of  a  pre 
sumptuous  and  imprudent  boy  ;  seriously  thought  that  I  cared  for 
nothing  but  amusement,  never  took  into  account  the  inward 
strength  and  capacity  I  possessed,  and  which  only  required  proper 
guidance  to  achieve  something  useful,  yet  was  fully  open  to  my 
mother's,  counsel,  and  at  length  approved  of  my  proposition  to 
separate  from  him  and  go  in  search  of  fortune  to  other  parts  of 
the  world.  I  desired  and  made  application  for  a  place  in  some; 
other  country  :  many  such  openings  were  held  out  to  me  by 
numerous  family-friends,  who  judged  of  me  more  favorably  than 
my  own  father  did :  one  of  these  was  in  the  house  of  Lobotker 
and  Company  in  Copenhagen,  the  other  in  the  house  of  Dobree, 
and  the  third  with  Messrs.  A.  M.  Labouchere  and  Trotreau,— the 
latter  two  at  Nantes.  The  last  of  these  places  was  proposed  to 
me  by  Messrs.  Matthiesen  and  Sillem,  who  were  especially  friendly 
to  me,  with  the  idea  of  my  conducting  the  German  and  English 
correspondence  of  the  house  they  named.  The  position  of  this 
latter  establishment  was  more  important  than  that  of  the  other, 
but  their  offer  was  unconnected  with  any  view  of  my  future  part- 
nership in  the  house  itself,  such  as  was  presented  to  me  by  the 
Copenhagen  establishment ;  but  after  mature  deliberation  touch- 
ing my  knowledge  and  capacity,  I  decided  that  I  could  make  no 
just  claim  to  the  position  offered  me  in  Copenhagen,  and  there- 
upon concluded  an  agreement  with  the  concern  at  Nantes  for  the 
term  of  three  years.  My  friend  Peter  Godeffroy  took  my  exten- 
sive library  of  plays  off  my  hands,  and  the  price  they  were  worth 


BOYHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  41 

was  applied  to  meet  the  expenses  of  my  journey  to  Nantes,  includ- 
ing a  brief  stay  at  Paris.  I  parted  from  my  friends  and  parents 
with  a  heavy  heart  indeed,  but  without  any  concern  in  relation 
to  myself  and  my  future. 

My  route  lay  through  Bremen,  where  I  accidentally  fell  in  with 
three  very  agreeable  travelling  companions, — the  Count  von  Hax- 
thausen,  of  the  Royal  Danish  Life-guards  from  Copenhagen,  Major 
Holstein  of  the  Queen's  Jagers  on  the  Island  of  Amager,  and  a 
young  man  of  fine  education  called  Joly,  from  Antwerp,  who  left 
us  at  Brussels.  At  length  we  arrived  in  Paris  on  the  eleventh 
day  after  my  departure  from  Hamburgh.  My  two  Danish  friends 
went  to  one  of  the  best  hotels ;  but  I,  for  the  purpose  of  living 
economically,  went,  on  the  recommendation  of  our  conductor,  to 
the  small  Hotel  St.  Pierre  in  the  dirty  little  street  St.  Pierre  de 
Montmartre,  close  by  the  Messageries. 

It  was  in  this  place  that  experience  first  taught  me  how  erro- 
neous it  is  to  suppose  that  any  real  saving  can  be  effected  in  what 
are  styled  the  cheap  hotels,  where  food  and  lodging  are  vastly 
inferior  to  those  found  in  better  class-houses,  and  in  a  place  like 
Paris,  where,  in  those  days  much  more  than  at  present,  they 
were  dependent  upon  profits  made  upon  strangers,  the  unavoida- 
ble roguery  was  much  more  repulsive  and  unblushing. 


CHAPTER    II. 

PARIS— NANTES— AMSTERDAM. 

rhe  trial  of  General  Moreau  at  Paris,  when  I  arrived  there — State  of  opinion  in 
that  capital — Napoleon's  first  parade  as  Emperor,  on  the  Place  du  Car- 
rousal — Departure  for  Nantes — My  entry  into  the  house  of  A.  M.  Labou- 
chere  and  Trotreau  —  The  two  head  partners  —  My  departure  from 
Amsterdam  at  the  request  of  P.  C.  Labouchere,  head  of  the  firm  of  Hope 
and  Co.,  in  that  city — Some  notice  of  the  history  of  that  house,  and  the 
characteristics  of  its  leading  partner — The  object  of  my  journey  to  the 
United  States  and  farther  intentions — Unexampled  business  projects  with 
the  banker,  G.  J.  Ouvrard,  in  Paris. 

The  moment  of  my  arrival  in  Paris  was  just  at  that  period 
when  the  First  Consul  was  proclaimed  Emperor  by  the  Senatus 
Consultum  of  the  18th  of  May,  1804,  and  General  Moreau  had 
been  arrested,  and  was  confined  in  prison  as  an  accomplice  in  a 
plot  against  the  government  and  the  life  of  the  First  Consul.  A 
piece  of  good  luck  befell  me  in  Paris  which  I  might  heartily  wish 
should  be  allotted  to  every  one  who  visits  that  city  for  the  first 
time,  viz :  that  I  was  enabled  to  secure  the  intimacy  of  a  friend 
who  had  long  been  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  city,  and  who 
was,  nevertheless,  not  in  the  least  unwilling  to  represent  the 
part  of  a  regular  cicerone  in  escorting  the  new-comer  to  every 
place  of  interest,  but  who  had,  moreover,  acquired  a  knowledge 
of  Paris  life,  in  all  its  phases,  and  was  thus  enabled  to  obtain 
admission  for  strangers  into  many  places  not  always  easily 
accessible  to  them,  and  when  there,  could  point  out  many  things 
worthy  of  remark  which  might  have  escaped  the  notice  of  an 
inexperienced  eye.  Thus,  for  instance,  access  to  Frascati's,  at 
that  time  the  favorite  resort  of  the  elegant  Parisian  world,  was 
free  to  every  one  who  had  paid  his  entrance  fee ;  but  what  good 


PARIS.  43 

would  it  have  done  me  to  walk  alone  through  its  magnificent 
saloons  and  splendidly  illuminated  gardens  '?  But  to  learn,  on  such 
an  evening,  that  the  beautiful  woman  who,  just  at  that  moment, 
stood  before  me  was  Madame  Recamier ;  that  the  elegant 
young  man,  leaning  against  the  pedestal  of  a  statue,  was  the  cele- 
brated dancer  Trenis,  and  that  the  person  near  him,  with  a  note- 
book  of  music  in  his  hand,  the  renowned  vocalist  Garat,  was 
something  which  rendered  the  presence  of  a  well-informed  and 
agreeable  companion  absolutely  necessary.  Such  a  friend  it  was 
my  lot  to  find,  and  in  this  way  I,  in  a  few  weeks,  was  enabled  to 
know  and  understand  Paris  as  perfectly  as  though  I  had  passed 
a  long  time  there.  Nothing,  however,  of  all  the  novelties  that  I 
had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  and  hearing  made  a  deeper  impres- 
sion upon  me  than  the  lively  and  universal  interest  which  every 
one  around  me  seemed  to  take  in  the  fate  of  the  imprisoned 
General  Moreau.  His  name  was  seldom  pronounced,  by  the 
middle  and  lower  classes,  unless  coupled  with  an  expression  of 
the  greatest  love  and  respect,  and  without  a  malediction  upon 
both  his  implacable  persecutors, — the  First  Consul  and  the  gover- 
nor of  Paris,  General  Murat,  who  had  in  his  later  proclamations 
placarded  the  name  of  General  Moreau,  in  large  letters,  on  all 
the  street  corners,  accompanied  by  the  word  "  traitre  a  la  Repub- 
lique"  No  one  either  could  or  would  yield  any  belief  to  the 
publicly  proclaimed  guilt  of  this  distinguished  general,  and  the 
wit  of  Paris  did  not,  by  any  means,  commit  default  on  this  occa- 
sion, for  you  might  everywhere  hear  the  pasquinade  il  7i>y  a  que 
deux  partis,  en  France  les  moraux  (Moreau)  et  les  immoraux. 
Moreau,  as  the  result  has  shown,  was  not  actually  a  participator 
in  the  plot  of  George  Cadoudal,  Pichegru,  the  two  Polignacs, 
and  others ;  but  he  had  committed,  what  to  a  man  in  his  station 
and  position  was  an  unpardonable  error — he  had  manifested  a 
want  of  decision,  in  seeing  George  Cadoudal  and  Polignac,  and 
listening  to  them.  As  it  has  since  appeared  from  the  whole 
prosecution,  it  was  not  the  plot  itself  from  which  he  receded,  but 
the  object  it  had  in  view,  viz :  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons, 
and  it  is  beyond  a  doubt  that  Moreau,  most  probably,  would  not 
have  refused  his  participation,  in  the  same  affair,  under   other 


44  PARIS. 

conditions.  As  it  was,  the  result  was  inevitable.  He  did 
not  deserve  the  sentence  of  death  as  Napoleon  desired — in  order 
that  he  might  pardon  him,  and  so  be  enabled  to  lower  him  in 
public  estimation, — but  he  could  not  escape  the  banishment  to 
which  he  was  sentenced  as  a  punishment  for  the  great  political 
crime  he  had  committed.  Moreau  soon  left  for  Cadiz,  where,  as 
it  was  then  said,  he  was  to  embark  for  the  United  States.  I 
never  dreamed,  at  that  time,  that  I  should  have  an  opportunity 
in  later  years,  of  knowing  this  man. 

The  first  review  which  the  new  Emperor  was  to  hold  was  ap- 
pointed to  take  place  at  the  Place  du  Carrousel,  and  my  curiosity 
to  get  one  more  sight  of  this  man,  as  Emperor,  whom  I,  seven 
years  previously,  had  seen  in  Leghorn  as  a  victorious  general,  was 
indescribable.  I  not  merely  wished  to  see  him,  but  to  get  close 
to  his  person,  and  have  a  good  chance  to  study  him.  My  travel- 
ling companions,  Count  Haxthausen  and  Major  Holstein,  who 
had  obtained  an  audience  at  Court,  were  so  good  as  to  procure  for 
me,  through  the  Danish  Minister,  a  special  card  of  admission  to 
the  Gallery  of  the  Louvre — a  favor  accorded  to  scarcely  twenty 
persons,  and  I  was  enabled  to  gratify  my  wish.  I  several  times 
saw  the  great  man  of  the  day  surrounded  by  a  brilliant  staff,  and 
uniforms  of  every  description,  riding  up  and  down  through  the 
ranks,  then  galloping  swiftly  by  outside  of  the  inner  court-yard, 
in  front  of  the  ranks  of  cavalry  ranged  along  there,  amid  the  shout 
of  Vive  VJEmpereur,  until  his  horse  suddenly  stumbled  and  fell, 
and  he  rolled  on  the  earth,  holding  the  reins  of  the  bridle  fast  in 
his  hand,  but  leaped  to  his  feet  in  a  moment,  before  even  a  part 
of  his  general  staff,  who  came  dashing  up  at  full  speed,  could  yield 
him  any  assistance.  The  newspapers  observed  profound  silence 
in  regard  to  this  occurrence ;  but  I  must  confess  that,  as  I  wit- 
nessed it,  a  thought  of  its  ominous  character  impressed  me  at 
once.  I  have  often  recollected  it  in  the  course  of  my  life,  but  the 
remembrance  struck  me  with  greater  force  than  ever,  when  I  first 
heard  Talleyrand's  famous  words,  in  relation  to  the  unfortunate 
result  of  the  expedition  into  Russia :  "  Cest  le  commencement  de 
la  Jin."  How  correct  Talleyrand's  insight  was  into  the  future, 
is  shown  by  an  expression  which  he  let  fall  from  his  sick  bed, 


PARIS.  45 

after  the  battle  of  Marengo,  to  Ouvrard,  who  was  paying  him  a 
visit :  "  I  well  know  what  the  First  Consul  ought  now  to  do — what 
his  own  interests,  what  the  peace  of  France  and  the  tranquillity  of 
Europe  demand  of  him.  Two  ways  stand  open  before  him  :  the 
first  leads  to  the  Federative  system,  which  permits  every  Prince, 
after  victory,  to  remain  master  in  his  own  country,  but,  under 
conditions  which  are  favorable  to  the  victor.  To-day  the  First 
Consul  might  replace  the  King  of  Sardinia,  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany,  &c,  on  their  thrones  ;  but,  should  he  seize  upon  every- 
thing, annex  everything,  then  he  flings  himself  into  a  path  which 
is  interminable." 

In  Paris,  I  once  more  met  with  some  old  friends: — not  living 
ones,  however,  but  the  four  bronze  horses  of  Saint  Mark  which  I 
had  seen  before  the  Church  at  Venice,  in  my  earlier  years.  They 
were  now  placed  upon  the  triumphal  Arch  of  the  Place  du  Car- 
rousel :  then  in  the  Museum  I  saw  the  Venus  De  Medicis,  from 
the  Tribune  of  the  Florentine  Gallery  ;  the  best  pictures  of  that 
Gallery,  such  as  the  Fornarina,  by  Raphael,  which  I  have  visited, 
daily,  in  Florence,  without  ever  being  able  to  sate  myself  with  its 
beauties,  and  the  Madonna  della  Sedia,  by  Raphael,  and  Christ 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  by  Carlo  Dolci,  from  the  Grand  Ducal 
Pitti  Palace.  The  sight  of  these  awakened  singular,  but  more 
especially  painful  sensations  in  my  bosom,  when  I  thought  of  the 
difference  between  my  present  condition  and  prospects,  and  the 
times  gone  by  when  these  enjoyments  were  first  accessible  to  me. 

I  had  already  passed  a  month  in  Paris,  and  it  was  now  time  for 
me  to  pay  some  attention  to  my  new  calling.  I  therefore  set  out 
for  Nantes  and,  on  the  day  of  my  arrival  there,  visited  the  count- 
ing-room which  was  destined  to  receive  me.  The  firm  of  Messrs. 
A.  M.  Labouchere  &  Trotreau,  in  pursuance  of  the  wish  of  Mr. 
P.  C.  Labouchere,  one  of  the  leading  partners  of  the  house  of 
Hope,  in  Amsterdam  (of  whom  I  will,  hereafter,  have  further  oc- 
casion to  speak),  was  to  replace  the  formerly  important  house  of 
Widow  Babut  &  Labouchere,  which  existed  before  the  Revolu- 
tion. The  present  head  of  the  firm  was  the  youngest  brother  of 
the  P.  C.  Labouchere  referred  to,  and  had  commenced  his  mer- 
cantile career  in  Copenhagen.     The  next  partner  in  the  firm  was 


46  PARIS. 

Mr.  H.  Trotreau,  a  man  well  advanced  in  years,  and  one  of  the 
most  respectable  persons  in  the  whole  city,  who  possessed  a  large 
fortune,  and  had,  at  the  request  of  his  young  friend  in  Amster- 
dam, lent  his  name  to  the  firm  so  as  at  once  to  procure  sufficient 
credit  in  the  place.  The  junior  head  of  the  House  was  absent 
when  I  arrived.  He  had  gone  to  Copenhagen  to  marry  a  young 
Norwegian  lady — a  Miss  Knudson,  from  Drontheim.  Mr. 
Trotreau  was  managing  the  House,  but  understood  neither  Ger- 
man nor  English,  and  it  so  happened  that  the  chief  correspondence 
of  the  establishment,  which  was  to  be  conducted  by  me,  was  in 
these  two  languages.  I  was,  at  once,  intrusted  by  Mr.  Trotreau 
with,  the  task  of  translating  all  letters  sent  to  us,  in  those  lan- 
guages, into  French,  and  was  also  intrusted  by  him  with  a  key  to 
the  replies  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  make  to  them.  I  had 
pleased  him,  and  won  his  confidence,  for  my  replies  were,  without 
further  examination,  signed  by  him.  I  had  never  received  any 
instruction  in  the  French  language,  but  had  been  my  own  teacher, 
and  yet,  as  it  appeared,  my  translations  were  both  comprehensible 
and  agreeable  to  Mr.  Trotreau.  When  he  desired  to  give  me 
some  information  regarding  the  peculiar  expressions  and  turns  of 
phrase,  my  desire  to  arrive  at  a  complete  and  thorough  familiarity 
with  them  increased  every  day ;  and  whenever  I  had  finished  my 
replies,  I  used  to  make  it  a  point,  without  having  been  asked,  to 
translate  these  also  into  French,  and  hand  them  to  Mr.  Trotreau, 
not  only  to  be  received,  but  also  to  be  corrected  by  him.  I  made 
myself  so  perfectly  familiar  with  the  French  mercantile  expres- 
sions, that  Mr.  Trotreau  declared  to  me  that  I  needed  no  further 
instruction,  and  might,  if  I  saw  fit,  also  undertake  the  French  cor- 
respondence of  the  House.  It  may  readily  be  conceived  what 
inward  gratification  this  offer  afforded  me.  The  French  clerk, 
from  whose  hands  it  was  transferred,  bitterly  complained  of  this 
preference ;  but  Mr.  Trotreau  replied,  "  What  would  you  have, 
my  friend  1  I  read  Mr.  Nolte's  letters  with  much  more  pleasure 
than  yours,  and  I  think  that  our  correspondents  will  do  the  same." 
At  length  the  absent  head  of  the  House,  Mr.  A.  M.  Labouchere, 
returned  with  his  young  Danish  wife.  He  was  desirous  of 
extending  the  business  of  the  House,  which  frequently,  through 


PARIS.  47 

the  interference  of  the  House  of  Baring,  in  London,  received  some 
consignments  from  the  United  States,  and  thought  that  more  fre- 
quent and  more  accurate  commercial  reports  not  only  would  con- 
tribute to  the  popularity  of  his  House  in  the  United  States,  but 
would  place  him  in  the  condition  to  outstrip  in  rank  other  Houses 
in  Nantes. 

With  this,  the  duty  was  imposed  upon  me  of  making  out  fre- 
quent market  circulars,  and  sending  them  to  the  United  States. 
This  was  most  laborious  and  irksome  work.  Mr.  Labouchere 
had  learned  the  addresses  of  many  American  firms,  frequently 
from  the  lips  of  American  ship-captains,  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact,  and  then  when  I  was  out  would  deposit  the  long  list  of 
new  names  on  my  desk,  for  me  to  make  out  a  corresponding  num- 
ber of  circulars,  and  dispatch  the  same  to  them;  and  whether  the 
firms  were  in  Portland  or  Savannah,  every  fluctuation  of  the  mar 
ket  down  to  the  most  trifling,  had  to  be  set  forth.  Three  clerks 
would  have  been  necessary  to  execute  this  mechanical  labor — for 
nothing  was  known  at  that  time  of  lithographic  circulars,  and  I 
was  too  conscientious  to  abridge  them,  or  to  seek  recreation  from 
my  severe  toil  by  imitating  the  brilliant  stroke  of  art  achieved  by 
my  friend  Paul  Delessert,  in  the  house  of  Messrs.  Matthiesen  and 
Sill  em,  at  Hamburgh.  After  the  letters  had  been  signed  by  old 
Mr.  Sillem,  the  father  of  Mr.  Jerome  Sillem,  they  were  laid 
before  the  eyes  of  my  young  friend,  for  him  to  work  in  a  compen- 
dious market  circular.  This  sort  of  work  fatigued  him,  so  one 
day  he  took  it  into  his  head  to  insert  the  following  words  under 
every  letter  :  Omelets  are  rising,  owing  to  the  extreme  scarcity  of 
eggs.  Before  the  mails  went  off,  the  Chef  wished  to  take  a  last 
look  at  the  letters,  and  of  course  instantly  saw  the  obnoxious 
words  of  all  other  things.  It  was  to  be  expected  that  no  head  of 
a  commercial  house  would  take  such  a  master-stroke  quietly,  and 
my  friend  Paul  had  to  leave  the  office  in  a  hurry.  But  I  was  not 
the  only  one  who  found  this  constant  transmission  of  circulars 
extremely  burthensome.  The  houses  to  whom  they  were  sent, 
particularly  the  American  firms,  had  every  reason  to  be  sick  of 
them ;  for  they  were  frequently  dispatched  in  vessels  sailing  to 
some  port  in  Maine,  to  be  sent  thence  as  far  very  often  as  Savan- 


48  NANTES. 

nah,  and  had  to  go  overland,  subject  to  the,  at  that  time,  enormous 
American  postage.  One  day  Mr.  Labouchere  came  in,  from  the 
post-office,  with  a  letter  bearing  an  enormous  Paimbceuf  stamp 
(Paimbceuf  is,  properly  speaking,  the  port  of  Nantes), — and  hold- 
ing it  up  before  me,  remarked,  as  he  broke  the  seal;  "There, 
Mr.  Nolte ! — a  consignment,  no  doubt,  from  America !"  But, 
when  he  had  got  it  out  of  the  envelope,  the  contents  of  the  packet 
were  discovered  to  be  some  thirty  of  our  circulars,  nearly  all  in 
my  handwriting,  which  the  recipients  had  amused  themselves  by 
re-enclosing  to  our  address. 

Another  packet  of  the  same  kind  arrived  by  post  at  Paimbceuf 
a  few  weeks  later.  Upon  this  occasion  Mr.  Labouchere  seemed 
quite  certain  that  all  was  right.  He  tore  open  the  envelope  with 
incredible'  eagerness,  and  discovered  a  Dutch  Price-current  of 
stuffed  birds,  dried  fish,  frogs  and  tortoises,  butterflies,  beetles, 
and  shells  of  every  description — all  things  for  which  Mr.  Labou- 
chere had  an  especial  preference,  and  of  which  he  kept  a  small  col- 
lection himself.  The  price-current  was  from  a  man  in  Rotterdam, 
to  whom  he  had  made  himself  known,  and  sent  a  card. 

This  canvassing  for  consignments  from  the  United  States,  and 
the  kind  of  uneasiness  which  Mr.  Labouchere  betrayed,  whenever 
his  neighbors,  Messrs.  Hottinguers  &  Co.,  a  branch  of  the  Paris 
banking  house,  received  important  consignments  from  the  United 
States — frequently  whole  fleets  at  a  time — were  to  me  inexpli- 
cable— so  I  asked  my  chief  what  the  real  cause  of  this  anxiety 
could  be.  -His  reply  invariably  was:  "  Large  advances,  proba- 
bly !"  My  next  question  was  :  "And  who  makes  these  advances? 
how  are  they  made  V  His  answer  :  "lam  ignorant  of  that !" 
or  "  I  do  not  know."  At  length,  however,  I  learned  from  one  of 
the  Hottinguer  clerks,  with  whom  I  had  struck  up  a  friendship, 
that  the  house  of  Messrs.  Baring  accepted  bills  drawn  as  an 
advance,  in  the  United  States,  took  out  the  insurance,  and  after 
sale  took  charge  of  the  remittances  for  the  merchandise.  From 
this  information,  I  for  the  first  time  got  a  key  to  this  whole  sys- 
tem, so  universally  understood  at  the  present  day,  but  of  which  I 
had  never  received  the  least  hint  at  my  father's  house  in  Leghorn, 
nor  under  his  own  eye  in  Hamburgh ;  nor,  as  the  reader  may 


NANTES.  4\ 

have  observed,  even  in  Nantes,  up  to  that  time.  Upon  making 
this  original  and  important  discovery,  I  immediately  went  to  Mr. 
Labouchere.  The  firm  of  Messrs.  Hope,  in  Amsterdam,  and  the 
house  of  Messrs.  Baring,  in  London,  had  been  mentioned  in  the 
circulars  of  the  Nantes  house  as  its  especial  friends ;  and  indeed, 
with  the  additional  remark  that  Mr.  P.  C.  Labouchere,  in  Amster- 
dam, the  brother  of  my  chief,  was  the  associated  partner  of  one, 
and  the  son-in-law  of  the  "  Chevalier"  Francis  Baring,  (Sir  Fran- 
cis Baring,  Bart.)  one  of  the  leading  partners  of  the  other.  "  I 
cannot  understand,"  said  I  to  Mr.  Labouchere,  "  how  you  can  let 
such  important  advantages  as  are  within  your  reach  remain  unim- 
proved, and  to  a  certain  degree  wholly  neglected.  All  that  the 
Messrs.  Hottinguer  get,  you  also  might  have.  You  must  of 
necessity  send  some  one  to  the  United  States,  and  if  you  can  find 
no  better  agent,  I  am  at  your  disposal — I  am  ready  to  go 
thither  !"  A  couple  of  weeks  after  that,  he  asked  me  to  reduce 
to  writing  my  ideas  concerning  the  United  States,  and  the  advan- 
tages of  a  visit  to  that  country,  and  send  them  to  his  brother  in 
Amsterdam,  who  must  have  discovered  from  my  correspondence 
with  the  house  of  Hope  &  Co.,  what  I  could  do,  and  who  had  asked 
him  to  make  the  present  request  of  me.  It  was  Saturday  when  I 
received  the  above  intimation.  I  shut  myself  up  all  day  on  Sun- 
day, threw  my  ideas  in  relation  to  the  desired  plan  on  paper, 
wrote  it  over  three  or  four  times  in  the  very  best  French  I  could 
muster,  and  the  next  morning  took  my  work  to  Mr.  Labouchere, 
to  have  him  examine  it,  and  transmit  it  to  his  brother,  if 
it  pleased  him.  Mr.  Labouchere  read  it  over,  and  instantly 
exclaimed :  "  Why,  that  is  excellent !  It  is  perfect !  It  would  be 
impossible  to  speak  more  to  the  point !  Whom  have  you  been 
consulting  V  I  replied  with  truth :  "Nobody  !  Whom  should  I 
consult  1"  I  now  understood  what  I  had  already  for  some  time 
been  fancying  to  myself — that  my  chef  either  did  not  know  how 
to  estimate  his  own  position,  or  that  something  lay  in  the  back- 
ground which  they  either  wished  or  were  obliged  to  conceal  from 
me.  My  communication  was  sent.  Some  nine  or  ten  days  had 
to  elapse,  before  I  could  get  a  reply  from  Amsterdam.  I  got 
none,  but  about  ten  days  later,  Mr.  Labouchere  called  me  into  hi? 


50  AMSTERDAM. 

private  office,  and  told  me  that  his  brother  had  commissioned  him 
to  send  me  directly  to  Amsterdam,  and  to  release  me  from  my 
three  years'  contract.  This  was  done.  My  curiosity  excited  to 
the  highest  degree,  I  bade  farewell  to  my  friends  in  Nantes,  and 
set  out  on  my  journey.  My  anxiety  to  reach  Amsterdam  as  soon 
as  possible  did  not,  to  my  great  regret,  allow  me  to  remain  more 
than  a  few  days  in  Paris ;  but  my  haste  was  not  so  much  use  to 
me  after  all,  for  I  had  scarcely  reached  Brussels  when  I  was 
attacked  with  fever-and-ague,  and  only  arrived  in  Amsterdam 
after  a  fortnight's  delay. 

The  next  morning  I  repaired  to  the  counting-house  of  Messrs. 
Hope,  but  as  it  was  almost  time  to  go  on  'change,  found  no  one 
there  but  a  brother  of  Mr.  Labouchere. 

The  house  of  Hope  and  Co.  in  Amsterdam  consisted  at  that 
time  of  the  head  partner  of  the  whole  concern,  Mr.  Henry  Hope, 
who,  as  the  son  of  a  Scottish  loyalist  settled  in  Boston,  had  been 
born  in  the  United  States,  and  had  emigrated  to  England  after  the 
first  invasion  of  Holland  by  the  French  republican  army  under 
Pichegru  ;  then  of  several  members  of  the  Hope  family,  Adrian, 
Thomas  L.  Hope,  (the  well  known  "  Furniture  Hope,"  who  had 
written  a  work  on  antique  furniture,)  and  Henry  Philip  Hope, 
who  resided  sometimes  at  the  Hague,  sometimes  in  England,  had 
capital  and  interests  in  the  Amsterdam  firm,  but,  as  sleeping 
partners  of  the  concern,  were  never  known  nor  mentioned  in  it  by 
name.  The  management  of  the  house  was  in  the  hands  of  Mr 
John  Williams,  an  Englishman,  who  had  married  the  niece  of 
Mr.  Henry  Hope,  and  afterwards  assumed  the  name  of  John 
Williams  Hope,  but  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life  called  himself 
John  Hope,  under  the  authority  of  a  royal  patent  signed  by 
George  IV.  as  Prince  Regent.  Beside  this  gentleman  stood,  as 
the  most  active  member  of  the  house,  the  very  soul  in  fact  of  the 
concern,  Mr.  P.  C.  Labouchere,  whom  I  have  already  named. 
This  distinguished  man,  born  at  the  Hague,  was  the  son  of  a 
French  dry-goods  merchant  residing  there, — a  native  of  Orthes  in 
Beam,  who  had  sent  the  young  man  to  his  brother,  of  whom  we 
have  already  spoken,  established  in  Nantes,  there  to  commence 
the  mercantile  career  marked  out  for  him.     There,  young  Labo* 


AMSTERDAM.  51 

chere  exhibited  so  many  evidences  of  intelligence  and  industry, 
that  his  uncle  felt  desirous  of  opening  before  him  a  broader  field 
than  he  could  pretend  to  offer  in  his  own  establishment,  and  as  it 
just  so  chanced  about  the  time  in  question  that  his  friend  Mr. 
Hope  had  commissioned  him  to  send  him  an  active  and  capable  clerk 
to  take  charge  of  his  Trench  correspondence,  he  proposed  his 
nephew  to  that  gentleman,  who  accepted  the  youth's  services  and 
engaged  him  provisionally  on  an  agreement  for  three  years  with  a 
fair  salary.  Shortly  before  the  close  of  this  term,  young  Labou- 
chere  gave  his  principal  a  hint  that  a  moderate  increase  of  salary 
was  desirable.  An  answer  was  promised  for  the  next  morning. 
When  he  went  at  the  appointed  time  to  receive  the  anticipated 
reply,  old  Mr.  Hope  laid  before  him  for  his  signature  a  contract 
already  drawn  up,  in  which  he  named  him  as  his  partner,  with  a 
suitable  share  in  the  profits,  and  intrusted  him  with  the  signature 
of  the  house.  Mr.  Labouchere  was  at  that  time  but  twenty-two, 
yet  ere  long  assumed  the  highly  respectable  position  of  head  of 
the  firm,  the  first  in  the  world,  and  studied  the  manners  of  a 
French  courtier  previous  to  the  Revolution :  these  he  soon  made 
so  thoroughly  his  own,  that  they  seemed  to  be  a  part  of  his  own 
nature.  He  made  a  point  of  distinguishing  himself  in  every  thing 
he  undertook  by  a  certain  perfection,  and  carried  this  feeling  so  far, 
that,  on  account  of  the  untractable  lack  of  elasticity  in  his  body 
and  a  want  of  ear  for  music  which  nature  had  denied  him,  he  for 
eighteen  years  deemed  it  necessary  to  take  dancing-lessons,  because 
he  saw  that  others  surpassed  him  in  the  graceful  accomplishment. 
It  was  almost  painful  to  see  him  dance.  The  old  school  required, 
in  the  French  quadrilles,  some  entrechats  and  one  or  two  pirou- 
ettes, and  the  delay  they  occasioned  him  always  threw  him  out  of 
time.  I  have  often  seen  the  old  gentleman,  already  more  than 
fifty,  return  from  a  quadrille  covered  with  perspiration.  Pro 
perly  speaking,  he  had  no  refined  education,  understood  but  very 
little  of  the  fine  arts,  and,  notwithstanding  his  shrewdness  and 
quickness  of  perception,  possessed  no  natural  powers  of  wit,  and 
consequently  was  all  the  more  eager  to  steal  the  humor  of  other 
people.  He  once  repeated  to  myself  as  a  witty  remark  of  his  own 
to  one  of  his  clerks,  the  celebrated  answer  of  De  Sartines,  a  former 


52  AMSTERDAM. 

chief  of  the  French  police,  to  one  of  his  subordinates  who  asked 
for  an  increase  of  pay  in  the  following  words  :  "  You  do  not  give 
me  enough — still  I  must  live !"  The  reply  he  got  was  :  "  I  do 
not  perceive  the  necessity  of  that!"  Now,  so  hard-hearted  a 
response  was  altogether  foreign  to  Mr.  Labouchere's  disposition, 
as  he  was  a  man  of  most  excellent  and  generous  feeling.  He  had, 
assuredly  without  intention,  fallen  into  the  singular  habit  of 
speaking  his  mother-tongue — the  French — with  an  almost  English 
intonation,  and  English  with  a  strong  French  accent.  But  he  was 
most  of  all  remarkable  for  the  chivalric  idea  of  honor  in  mercan- 
tile transactions,  which  he  constantly  evinced,  and  which  I  never, 
during  my  whole  life,  met  with  elsewhere,  in  the  same  degree, 
however  numerous  may  have  been  the  high-minded  and  honorable 
merchants  with  whom  I  have  been  thrown  in  contact.  He  fully 
possessed  what  the  French  call  "  des  idees  chevalaresques." 

I  had  seen  this  remarkable  man,  (who,  by  the  way,  was  mar- 
ried  to  the  second  daughter  of  Sir  Francis  Baring  in  London.)  at 
Hamburgh,  when  the  failure  in  that  city  of  the  former  very  exten- 
sive house  of  Martin  Dorner  who,  as  banker  for  the  Russian 
loan,  was  a  correspondent  of  Hope  and  Co.,  had  called  him  thither. 
He  took  that  occasion  to  present  himself  to  my  father  with  a 
letter  of  recommendation  from  his  old  London  friend  ;  but  I 
merely  saw  him,  as  I  was  too  young  and  too  inexperienced  to  form 
any  but  a  partial  opinion  of  him,  even  when  he  passed  a  day  with 
us  at  Eppcndorf;  only  his  elegant  manners  had  attracted  and 
pleased  me,  and  long  remained  in  my  memory.  They  had 
inspired  me  with  a  species  of  awe.  When,  summoned  by  himself, 
I  again  saw  him  at  Amsterdam,  it  was  on  'change.  I  had  not,  as 
already  intimated,  found  him  in  his  office,  and  was  conducted  to 
him  by  his  younger  brother,  Samuel  P.  Labouchere,  the  still  sur- 
viving partner  of  Hope  and  Co.  We  found  him  at  the  Bourse, 
leaning  with  his  back  against  a  pillar  and  surrounded  by  a  swarm 
of  jobbers  and  runners,  acting  entirely  on  the  defensive,  that  he 
might  get  breath.  Twenty-five  years  later,  I  saw,  leaning  against 
that  very  identical  pillar,  his  successor  in  the  house  of  Hope  and 
Co.,  Mr.  Jerome  Sillem  from  Hamburgh,  not,  either,  without 
remarking  the  singular  contrast  between  the  manners  of  these  two 


AMSTERDAM.  53 

distinguished  merchants.  Mr.  Labouchere,  who  had  the  highest 
respect  for  his  friend  Sillem,  on  account  of  his  truly  practical 
good  sense  in  all  things,  and  his  unusually  penetrating  sagacity, 
and  was  in  the  habit  of  calling  him  "  a  rough  diamond,"  would 
put  aside  the  runners  who  beset  him,  with  great  seriousness  but 
also  with  much  dignity,  while  Sillem,  on  the  other  hand,  would 
snarl  very  fiercely  at  them,  and  frequently  pushed  them  violently 
out  of  his  way  with  both  hands,  and  as  much  rudeness  of  manner 
as  possible.  After  'change  hours,  if  he  again  chanced  to  meet 
these  gentry,  he  would  lift  his  hat  with  a  very  subservient  air, 
indeed.  "  Here,"  he  would  say  to  me,  "  they  are  not  trouble- 
some,— but  on  'change  I  have  to  be  rude  in  order  to  get  rid  of 
them."  Yet,  be  it  here  remarked,  to  do  this  required  no  espe- 
cially severe  effort.  The  outward  conventional  forms  of  polite- 
ness, particularly  those  of  French  device,  were  not  in.  accordance 
with  his  nature,  and  hung  about  him  like  an  ill-fitting  garment. 
He  understood  politeness  where  he  considered  it  appropriate, 
rather  in  the  English  sense — he  substituted  for  it  a  certain  hearti- 
ness and  readiness  to  serve  those  with  whom  he  had  intercourse. 

After  the  close  of  the  Bourse,  Mr.  Labouchere  placed  my  arm 
confidentially  in  his,  and  said,  "  Let  us  take  a  walk  ;  we  will  be 
able  to  converse  undisturbed,  and  to  better  purpose,  than  in  the 
counting-room.  I  have  very  often  been  pressed,  by  my  brother, 
to  give  him  permission  to  send  an  agent  to  the  United  States,  but 
never  would  listen  to  his  request,  until  he  made  mention  of  you 
and  your  wishes.  I  think  that  I  have  a  perfect  knowledge  of  you, 
and  understand  you,  from  your  correspondence,  and  that  you  may 
be  useful  to  him,  to  yourself,  and  to  us  all." 

The  "  us  all"  sounded  very  pleasantly  in  my  ears,  for  under  the 
word  us  was  given  to  understand  a  mission  for  the  important 
house  of  Messrs.  Hope  itself.  I  instantly  said,  "  How  is  that  ? 
Us  all !" 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  he  continued.  "  To  make  your  first  appear 
ance  as  agent  for  the  house  of  my  brother  is  a  very  good  prelim, 
inary  introduction  to  the  United  States,  and  you  can,  according  to 
the  directions  and  hints  I  will  give  you,  carefully  look  about  you 
there  a  couple  of  months,  until  we  shall  have  some  further  addi- 


54  AMSTERDAM. 

tional  need  of  your  services.  Even  were  you  not  to  make  one 
single  bargain,  I  should  still  be  well  enough  satisfied  ;  but  I  have 
something  better  in  store  for  you.  You  will  be  intrusted  with  a 
mission  that  will  make  you  catch  your  breath  to  hear  of.  You 
will  feel  the  ground  heaving  under  your  feet,"  &c,  &c. 

And  here  he  began  to  sketch  for  me  the  outline  of  a  really  col- 
lossal  undertaking  he  was  then  planning  in  his  own  mind,  and 
with  which  the  reader  shall  presently  be  made  better  acquainted. 

He  then  pointed  out  the  position  he  had  in  view,  and  the  heavy 
responsibility  that  would  rest  upon  my  shoulders.  He  was  right. 
I  did  catch  my  breath  at  the  magnificence  of  his  project.  Ere  I 
had  put  a  hand  to  it,  I  at  once  declared  to  Mr.  Labouchere  that  I 
was  too  young  and  inexperienced  to  assume  such  a  responsibility, 
and  that  I  should  only  in  a  moderate  degree  equal  his  expecta- 
tions.    His  answer  was — 

"  That  is  my  business,  and  not  yours.  I  have  but  one  thing  to 
recommend  to  you  :  never  commit  any  action  which  may  one  day 
cause  you  to  blush  before  me,  or  in  the  presence  of  your  own 
conscience !" 

I  was  now  placed  upon  the  right  ground.  He  had  correctly 
judged  me,  and  I  had  understood  him  perfectly.  At  length  we 
touched  upon  the  question,  how  much  salary  I  was  to  receive  for 
all  this.     He  replied  — 

"  Nothing  !  Your  expenses  will  be  liberally  paid  !  that  is  all. 
If  you  cannot  foresee  what  a  position  such  a  part  may  secure  for 
you  in  the  commercial  world,  and  the  facilities  which  it  cannot 
fail  to  open  for  you  in  the  future,  you  had  better  stay  at  home." 

My  reply  was  that  his  extreme  confidence  honored  me,  and 
that  I  would  unconditionally  agree  to  all  that  he  saw  fit  to  point 
out  to  me. 

"  In  order  to  progress,"  he  added,  "  you  must  renounce  all  im- 
patience to  succeed." 

The  leaven  of  impatience  which  he  had  perhaps  discovered  in 
me  did  not,  however,  belong  to  personal  account.  A  glance  at 
the  circumstances  and  prospects  of  my  family,  whom  I  had  left  in 
Hamburgh — my  father,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  was  in  his 
sixtieth  year  when  I  parted  from  him — was  the  stimulus  which 


AMSTERDAM.  55 

kept  alive  within  me  this  burning  desire  for  rapid  progress  and 
early  success. 

The  business,  of  which  Mr.  Labouchere  had  communicated  only 
to  me  a  rough  outline,  and  which  I  got  to  understand  and  form  an 
opinion  of,  in  its  whole  extent,  only  several  months  later  in  the 
autumn  of  1805,  originated  in  one  of  the  many  conceptions  and 
combinations  of  Mr.  G.  J.  Ouvrard,  formerly  a  celebrated  banker, 
afterwards  transformed  into  the  munitionaire  general,  who  pub- 
lished his  own  memoirs  in  three  volumes,  during  the  year  1826. 

What  he  has  communicated  in  those  volumes,  concerning  his 
relations  with  the  house  of  Hope  &  Co.,  consists  in  detached, 
imperfect,  and  disconnected  fragments.  The  following  will  unfold 
the  whole  plan  to  my  readers,  and  I  hope  render  it  perfectly  com- 
prehensible. However,  before  I  enter  upon  the  narrative,  I  con- 
sider it  necessary  to  say  many  things  about  this  remarkable  man 
which  deserve  to  be  rescued  from  oblivion,  and  greatly  contribute 
to  a  true  and  faithful  sketch  of  him.  He  was  in  reality  a  remark 
able  phenomenon,  and  the  times  in  which  he  lived  were  well 
adapted  to  make  one  of  a  man  so  strangely  framed,  and  yet  pos- 
sessing such  lofty  intelligence.  He  can  scarcely  be  reproached 
for  not  having  been  able,  in  drawing  his  own  portrait,  to  avoid 
the  favorite  habit  of  most  autobiographers,  who  generally,  in  this 
or  that  characteristic,  paint  a  much  more  flattering  picture  of 
themselves  than  the  nature  of  the  object  would  justify  ;  for  the 
extraordinary  facility  with  which  he  schemed  and  executed  the 
most  incredible  business  combinations  might  well  excuse  an  over- 
plus of  vanity.  Nor  should  we  fail  to  observe,  that  in  the  whole 
tenor  of  his  self-written  memoirs,  there  is  nowhere  anything  pre- 
tentious, nothing  boastful  of  what  he  has  done,  but  only  a  certain 
desire  for  celebrity.  And  if  I  have  spent  a  little  more  time,  in 
referring  to  these  characteristics  of  Ouvrard,  than  the  influence  of 
his  business  combinations  upon  my  own  fortune  would  seem  to 
render  necessary,  it  has  been  done  with  the  view  to  bring  for- 
ward some  characteristic  traits  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
episodes  in  the  history  of  Napoleon's  empire,  which  the  majority 
of  that  great  man's  biographers  either  did  not,  know,  or  have  not 
felt  disposed  to  communicate. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR,  G.  J.  OUVRARD. 

His  origin  and  business  development — First  great  speculation — The  founding 
of  his  establishment  at  Paris — His  private  intimaeies  lead  to  acquaintance- 
ship with  the  Director  Barras  and  Brigadier  Chief  Bonaparte,  before  the 
appointment  of  the  latter  to  the  rank  of  General — The  rapid  rise  of  Ouv- 
rard,  as  a  government  contractor — He  becomes  the  Maecenas  of  artists — 
His  princely  liberality — Nicolo  Isouard,  the  composer — Ouvrard's  first 
connexion  with  the  Spanish  Government — Immense  transactions  with  the 
French  Government,  with  Vanlerberghe  and  with  Duprez — Ouvrard's  jour- 
ney to  Madrid — His  influence  with  the  Prince  of  Peace — The  business  con- 
tract between  King  Charles  IV.  of  Spain  and  Ouvrard — Results  of  this 
contract — The  commercial  treaty  that  spraug  from  it — Hope  &  Co.  in  Am- 
sterdam— The  inconsiderate  condemnation  of  Ouvrard,  and  frivolous  pallia- 
tion of  Napoleon's  unjust  course  towards  him  by  Thiers,  in  the  sixth  volume 
of  his  History  of  the  Consulate. 

J.  G.  Ouvrard  was  the  son  of  the  owner  of  a  considerable 
paper  manufactory,  in  the  French  province  of  Bretagne  ;  first  saw 
the  light  in  the  year  1770,  on  an  estate  in  the  near  neighborhood 
of  Clisson,  and  had  been  educated  in  the  college  of  that  place. 
Introduced,  as  early  as  the  age  of  seventeen,  into  a  large  colonial 
produce  establishment  at  Nantes,  he  there,  ere  he  had  yet  reached 
hie  twentieth  year,  set  up  a  similar  business  for  himself,  under  the 
firm-name  of  Guertin  &  Ouvrard,  in  1788,  shortly  before  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolution.  He  himself  relates  how  he  got  his 
first  ideas  of  the  powerful  levers  of  credit,  from  seeing  Mr.  Gras- 
lin,  the  builder  of  the  new  town  of  Nantes,  in  order  to  pay  the 
hands  he  had  employed  in  this  work,  put  in  circulation  a  kind  of 
paper  money,  which  was  made  payable  at  sight,  but  only  h*  cop- 
per coin.     These  notes,  which  had  attained  extensive  circuktion, 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  57 

but  had  fallen  into  momentary  discredit  without  any  plausible 
reason,  through  the  malice  of  some  ill-disposed  persons,  were  sud- 
denly presented  all  at  the  same  time,  and  the  same  means  which 
had  once  worked  so  well  with  the  English  Bank*  likewise  an- 
swered the  purpose  in  this  case,  since  the  time  required  by  the 
daily  and  continuous  payment  of  the  notes  in  copper  coin  was  suf- 
ficient to  give  Mr.  Graslin  elbow-room  to  clear  his  way  and  gather 
in  his  scattered  resources.  At  length,  as  people  saw  this  liquida- 
tion going  forward,  for  whole  days  together,  the  panic  gradually 
subsided  with  daily  increasing  rapidity,  until  finally  the  holders 
of  the  notes  altogether  ceased  presenting  them.  This  example 
was  by  no  means  thrown  away  upon  young  Ouvrard.  Soon  after, 
the  taking  of  the  Bastille,  on  the  14th  July,  1789,  stamped  upon 
the  Revolution,  which  had  just  begun,  the  seal  of  a  completed  fact, 
and  left  free  course  to  public  speech,  and  to  entire  liberty  of  the 
press.  Young  Ouvrard  hereupon  conceived  the  idea  that  there 
would  be  a  great  deal  of  wrriting  and  printing,  and  that  conse- 
quently paper  would  become  scarce.  Sustained  by  some  business 
connexions  he  had  formed,  and  by  the  credit  of  his  father,  he  had 
concluded  with  all  the  paper  manufactories  in  the  neighboring 
districts  of  Poitou  and  Angoumois,  a  contract  for  every  sheet  of 
paper  that  they  could  deliver  during  the  next  two  years.  Ouvrard 
had  made  a  correct  calculation ;  paper  began  to  be  scarce  every- 
where, and  to  rise  in  price ;  and  he  finally  succeeded,  soon  after 
that,  in  disposing  of  his  contract  to  the  heavy  booksellers,  Dufrat 
Brothers,  in  Tours,  and  several  other  publishers  in  Nantes,  for  a 
bonus  of  300,000  francs.  This  operation,  a  very  considerable 
operation  for  a  beginner  of  scarcely  twenty,  stimulated  his  taste 
for  speculation.     He  began  to  reckon  up  the  unavoidable  effect  of 

*  Before  the  Pretender  Stuart  had  lost  the  battle  of  Culloden,  in  the  year 
1745,  and  his  army  had  advanced  as  far  as  Derby,  there  was  a  kind  of  panic 
on  the  Bank  of  England,  and  everybody  rushed  in  to  get  their  notes  exchanged 
for  coin.  The  directors,  in  order  to  save  themselves,  hit  upon  the  plan  of  swell- 
ing the  throng  by  a  host  of  their  own  emissaries,  who  were  paid  off  in  silver 
sixpences,  and  then  passing  out  at  one  door,  and  returning  into  the  Bank 
through  another,  and  brought  back  the  sixpences.  In  this  way  time  was 
gained,  and  the  panic  gradually  subsided. 

3* 


THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR, 

ic  Revolution  on  the  French  colonies,  and,  foreseeing  the  certain 
decrease  of  importation  thence,  united  with  the  heavy  house  of 
Baour  &  Co.;,  in  Bordeaux,  still  existing  at  the  present  day,  in  very 
large  speculations  in  sugar  and  coffee,  and  thereby,  while  still  quite 
young,  in  a  short  time  became  a  millionaire.  But  in  Nantes,  the 
consequences  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  bloody  rule  of  the  monster 
Carrier,  had  deprived  innumerable  families  of  their  head,  spread 
mourning  and  woe  through  others,  and  in  all  directions  produced 
deep  and  unusual  despondency.  Ouvrard's  customary  business 
having  ceased,  he  turned  soldier,  rose  to  the  rank  of  Chief  of  Ba- 
tallion,  and  as  such  was  sent,  by  General  Canclaux,  to  Paris,  to 
carry  to  the  Convention  a  number  of  standards,  taken  in  the 
fight  of  Torfou.  Upon  this  occasion  he  became  well  acquainted 
with  Paris,  and  speedily  discovered  it  to  be  the  oral  theatre,  where 
he  would  have  the  best  chance  of  developing  his  love  of  specula- 
tion, and  putting  his  projects  into  execution.  Hereupon  he  deter- 
mined to  remain  in  Paris,  and  there  found  an  extensive  mercantile 
house.  This  he  proceeded  to  do,  pushing  forward  his  ventures  in 
colonial  produce  in  combination  with  several  capitalists  in  Bor- 
deaux with  so  much  success,  that  but  a  short  time  had  elapsed  ere 
he  had  made  enormous  sums,  and  found  himself  at  the  head  of 
several  millions  of  money,  a  capital  which  no  one  there  could 
boast  of  at  that  time,  and  which,  so  soon  as  the  social  relations 
of  Paris  had  been  restored,  gave  him  extraordinary  preponderance 
in  that  city. 

He  had  become  acquainted  with  Madame  Tallien,  so  celebrated 
for  her  beauty  and  wit ;  was  her  lover ;  through  her  got  to  know 
the  Director  Barras, and  saw  at  her  house  no  less  a  person  than 
Bonaparte,  who  was  at  that  time  a  mere  Chief  of  Brigade  in  the 
artillery,  and  in  such  needy  circumstances,  that  he  found  himself 
obliged  to  take  advantage  of  a  decree  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety,  which  entitled  all  officers  placed  in  active  service  to  a  do- 
nation of  as  much  cloth  as  was  required  to  make  a  military  coat, 
vest,  and  pantaloons.  Bonaparte's  application  was  rejected,  be 
cause  he  was  not  just  at  that  time  in  active  service.  A  couple  of 
words  from  Ouvrard  to  Madame  Tallien  were,  however,  sufficient 
to  obtain  from  that  lady  a  letter  of  recommendation  for  young 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  59 

Bonaparte  to  Lefeuve,  the  Commissary  of  the  17th  military  divi- 
sion ;  and  the  result  of  this  recommendation  was,  that  Bonaparte 
got  what  he  desired — cloth  enough  for  his  new  uniform.  In  after 
years,  when  Bonaparte  was  every  day  attaining  higher  distinc- 
tion and  importance,  and  early  began  to  show  symptoms  of  dis- 
like to  Ouvrard,  this  otherwise  keen  and  skilful  man  could  seldom 
refrain  from  narrating  the  anecdote,  with  a  sarcastic  smile  ;  while, 
on  the  contrary,  the  player  Talma,  who  had  become  intimate  with 
Bonaparte,  and  had  often  replenished  his  empty  purse,  grew  more 
and  more  reserved,  in  his  communications  and  his  demeanor,  the 
higher  his  friend  ascended  the  ladder  of  fortune. 

The  DirectorBarras,to  whom  all  that  remained  of  good  French 
society,  after  the  Reign  of  Terror,  looked  in  those  days,  and  who 
was  thoroughly  competent  to  form  a  correct  estimate  of  Ouvrard's 
financial  talents,  made  use  of  his  influence  with  Pleville  Peley, 
then  Minister  of  the  Marine,  to  sustain  Ouvrard's  efforts  to 
replace  the  Commissariat  of  the  four  Regisseurs  by  private  con- 
tracts and  deliveries,  and  thus  this  gentleman  was  at  length 
appointed  Munitionnaire  General  of  the  Marine,  and  intrusted 
with  the  charge  of  providing  all  that  might  be  needed  for  it. 
These  deliveries  ran  up  to  no  less  a  sum  than  63,973,494  francs, 
which  Ouvrard  furnished.  Pleville  Peley's  successor  in  the 
Ministry  of  the  Marine  was  the  well  known  Admiral  Bruix. 
When,  the  latter  had  been  ordered  by  the  Directory  to  proceed 
from  Brest  to  Cadiz,  with  a  fleet  of  twenty-five  ships,  to  bring 
away  the  Spanish  fleet  lying  in  that  port,  under  Admiral  Massa- 
redo,  and  escort  them  to  Brest,  and  succeeded  in  accomplish- 
ing this  perilous  task,  notwithstanding  the  watchfulness  of  the 
combined  British  squadrons,  Ouvrard  also  undertook  the  provi- 
sioning of  the  Spanish  fleet  at  Brest,  and  carried  on  this  business 
for  some  years  after  their  return  to  Cadiz  so  skilfully,  that  at  the 
conclusion  of  his  contracts  he  had  put  in  his  pocket  a  clear  gain  of 
fifteen  millions  of  francs.  Ouvrard  had  become  so  omnipotent  as 
a  financier,  that  every  one  that  wanted  to  borrow  came  to  him ; 
and  even  the  Directory,  which  had  at  the  time  when  the  expedi- 
tion to  Egypt  was  crowned  with  the  greatest  success,  still  found 
itself  in  extraordinary  embarrassment,  occasioned  by  the  simulta- 


00      THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR, 

neous  defeats  of  the  republican  armies  in  Germany,  Switzerland, 
and  Italy,  borrowed  from  him  the  sum  of  ten  millions  of  francs, 
which  he  advanced  to  it  with  the  greatest  readiness  and  facility. 
After  Bonaparte's  return  from  Egypt  and  the  fall  of  the  Direc- 
tory, the  First  Consul  desired  Ouvrard  to  let  him  have  the  sum 
of  twelve  millions.  The  latter  was  not  disposed  to  accede  to  this 
request,  so  application  was  made  to  the  other  bankers  of  Paris, 
and  the  will,  perhaps  the  means,  was  also  found  wanting  in  them. 
The  First  Consul,  who  would  not  listen  to  a  refusal,  wras  exaspe- 
rated to  the  last  degree,  and  became  still  more  so,  when  Ouvrard 
took  it  into  his  head  to  make  some  inquiry  concerning  the  ten 
millions  he  had  lent  to  the  Directory.  A  couple  of  days  after- 
wards this  sum  was  paid  back  by  his  order  to  Ouvrard,  but 
in  a  way  that  amounted  to  drawing  the  pen  across  the  whole 
debt — that  is  to  say,  in  drafts  on  the  already  expended  reve- 
nues of  the  bygone  year.  At  the  same  time  Ouvrard  was  put 
under  strict  arrest,  under  the  pretence  that  he  had  treated  the 
government  badly,  and  made  exorbitant  charges  against  it,  in  the 
execution  of  his  contracts  for  the  navy.  His  papers  were  sealed 
up,  and  a  commission  of  six  State  Councillors  appointed  to  exam- 
into  the  state  of  his  affairs.  It  turned  out  that  Ouvrard  had  con- 
tracted no  debts,  and  that  in  landed  property  and  money  and  in 
French  rents,  which  at  that  time  were  worth  only  fifteen  francs, 
he  possessed  a  capital  of  twenty-seven  millions.  Upon  this  occa- 
sion a  discovery  was  made  which  deeply  wounded  the  French 
Consul,  namely,  that  during  Bonaparte's  absence  in  Egypt,  Ouv- 
rard had  supplied  the  pecuniary  necessities  of  Josephine,  who  had 
remained  behind  at  Malmaison;  and  that  she  had  thus  become  to 
a  considerable  degree  his  debtor.  This  circumstance,  taken 
together  with  the  banker's  refusal  to  lend  him  the  twelve  mil- 
lions, awakened  in  the  bosom  of  the  First  Consul  the  most  violent 
antipathy  to  Ouvrard,  whose  arrest  revolted  all  Paris,  more  par- 
ticularly the  financial  men,  and  called  forth  loud  complaints. 
Collot,  a  subsequent  Director  of  the  Mint,  who  was  among  the 
most  intimate  advisers  of  Bonaparte,  did  not  hesitate  to  remark 
to  the  First  Consul  that  it  was  a  bad  beginning  to  give  any  one 
the  right  to  be  disturbed  by  such  arbitrary  measures,    "  A  man," 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  61 

responded  Bonaparte,  "  who  possesses  thirty  millions,  and  thinks 
nothing  of  it,  is  much  tjo  dangerous  for  my  position."  Through 
the  interposition  of  Josephine  and  some  of  the  first  notabilities  of 
the  city,  the  intended  step  of  arraigning  Ouvrard  at  Marseilles 
before  a  military  commission  was  not  carried  out,  and  he  was 
released.  As  a  set  off  for  this  clemency,  he  was  placed  under  the 
especial  watch  of  some  gensdarmes.  This  however  did  not  pre- 
vent him  from  pursuing  his  usual  course  of  life,  nor  from  making 
Castle  Raincy  (which  in  after  years  fell  to  the  Duchess  of  Berry), 
a  rendezvous  for  the  best  society  of  the  capital  and  all  foreigners 
of  note.  There  he  used  to  receive  and  entertain  them  with 
princely  hospitality,  which  he  was  able  to  do,  soon  after  the  peace 
of  Amiens  with  the  celebrated  Mr.  Fox  and  Lord  Erskine.  He 
also  became  the  Maecenas  of  artists,  whom  he  was  accustomed  to 
recompense  with  munificent  liberality.  The  reader  will  perhaps 
allow  me,  ere  I  return  to  him  and  his  connection  with  the  Messrs. 
Hope,  in  Amsterdam,  to  relate  an  anecdote  of  him  which  was 
confided  to  me,  and  which  is  but  little  known. 

The  Hotel  de  Salm,  which,  in  the  latter  days  of  the  Consulate 
and  the  beginning  of  the  Empire,  had  become  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  resorts  where  the  elite  of  French  society  were  accus- 
tomed to  sojourn,  had  called  together,  an  extraordinary  assembly 
to  hear  several  selections  from  a  new  opera,  written  by  a  young 
and  promising  composer.  Both  artists  and  amateurs,  were  in  an 
equal  degree  enchanted  with  this  quite  original  and  most  charm- 
ing music.  Among  these  was  Ouvrard,  who  was  indefatigable  in 
testifying  his  admiration  to  the  young  composer.  It  wras  quite 
late  at  night  when  Ouvrard  returned.  As  he  was  passing  through 
the  court  of  the  hotel  to  his  carriage  he  saw,  lying  on  the  ground, 
a  paper,  the  form  of  which,  and  the  stamp  it  bore,  at  once  in- 
formed him  that  it  must  be  the  official  notification  of  a  sheriff's  offi- 
cer (un  exploit  cPHuissier).  To  pick 'it  up  quickly,  spring  into  his 
carriage,  and  drive  off  to  his  own  hotel,  was  the  work  of  a  mo- 
ment. Scarcely  had  he  reached  his  residence  ere  he  examined  the 
paper,  and  discovered  that  it  was  one  of  the  customary  protests 
which  leave  the  person  to  whom  it  is  sent  no  other  alternative, 
than  either  to  pay  the  required  debt  upon  the  spot,  or  to  be  shut 


62      THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR, 

up  in  the  Hotel  de  Clichy,  the  common  prison  for  insolvent  debt- 
ors. Ouvrard  read  further  on,  and,  to  his  great  surprise,  found 
on  the  paper  the  name  of  the  young  composer  whose  music  had 
so  enchanted  him.  The  trouble  was  about  a  sum  amounting  to 
three  thousand  francs ;  and  for  such  a  trifling  sum  as  this,  a  young 
man  of  genuine  talent  was  to  be  compelled  to  sacrifice  a  brilliant 
future.  Ouvrard  felt  the  force  of  this,  and  instantly  formed  his 
resolution  ;  so  on  the  next  day  the  young  artist  received  the  fol- 
lowing letter : — 

"  Be  at  your  ease,  Sir  !  What  you  lost  yesterday  evening  at 
the  Hotel  Salm  has  fallen  into  safe  hands.  The  finder  considers 
himself  fortunate  in  having  made  a  discovery  which  places  it  in 
his  power  to  become  useful  to  a  man  whose  talent  and  worth  he 
can  thoroughly  appreciate.  In  the  meanwhile  comfort  yourself 
with  the  intelligence,  that  at  this  moment  your  creditor  has  no 
further  claim  on  you.  The  finder  of  your  document  begs  you  to 
pardon  the  feeling  of  curiosity  which  impelled  him  to  read  a  paper 
belonging  to  you  without  your  permission.  As  he  takes  a  lively 
interest  in  your  future,  and  knows  perfectly  well  how  material 
obstacles  bear  down  with  leaden  weight  the  most  splendid  capaci- 
ties, he  begs  you  to  accept  the  enclosed  ten  notes  of  one  thousand 
francs  each.  No  thanks,  dear  Sir,  for  what  is  merely  a  trifling 
advance  upon  the  future  success  of  your  exertions  !  What  your 
friend  expects  of  you,  however,  is  only  perseverance  in  the  right 
path  you  have  chosen,  and  a  continued  effort,  on  your  part,  to  de- 
serve the  fame  that  awaits  you ;  and  the  gratification  this  will 
bring  him  will  assuredly  far,  far  exceed  the  little  service  he  now 
seeks  to  render  you." 

The  man  to  whom  this  letter  was  sent  was  Nicolo  Isouard,  the 
afterwards  celebrated  composer,  whom  we  have  to  thank  for  the 
splendid  French  operas,  "Le  Rossignol,"  "  Cendrillon,"  and 
"  Jeannot  et  Colin,"  which  for  so  many  years  constantly  filled  the 
house  of  the  "Opera  Comique." 

Neither  at  that  time,  or  for  very  many  years  afterwards,  did 
there  exist  in  Paris  such  a  fortune  as  had  now  fallen  to  the  lot  of 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  63 

one  single  man,  who,  like  Ouvrard,  had  passed  a  life  of  such  un- 
exampled liberality,  and  sometimes  to  the  last  degree  of  lavish 
expenditure.  He  had  in  Paris  three  houses,  the  firms  Girardot 
&  Co.,  Cinot,  Charlemagne  &  Co.,  and  Charles  Rougemont  &  Co., 
under  his  control,  and  had  established  three  in  Brest,  Bordeaux, 
and  Orleans,  so  that  his  influence  had  become  almost  omnipotent. 
Immense  as  his  more  than  princely  expenditure  had  become,  it 
still  did  not  amount,  as  he  frequently  affirmed,  to  more  than  one- 
third  part  of  his  income. 

Napoleon's  subsequent  Arch-Chancellor,  Cambaceres,  was  the 
man  who  had  placed  Ouvrard  at  the  head  of  his  financial  organi- 
zation (Comptabilite).  It  was  of  course  to  be  expected,  under 
these  circumstances,  that  he  would  have  more  envious  rivals  than 
friends.  But  it  was  not  envy,  but  the  supremacy  of  an  impatient 
ambition,  which  could  endure  no  other  greatness  beside  his  own, 
unless  it  had  its  origin  in  him  which  made  the  remarkable  man 
who  then  held  the  destinies  of  France  in  his  grasp,  Ouvrard's 
sworn  enemy. 

Among  the  causes  already  mentioned  of  Napoleon's  secret  dis- 
like to  Ouvrard,  were  others,  which,  in  the  eyes  of  so  excitable  and 
ambitious  a  temperament  as  that  of  Bonaparte,  were  looked  upon 
as  crimes.  All  Paris  had  already  known,  for  a  long  time,  that 
not  only  was  Napoleon  by  no  means  insensible  to  the  almost  fab- 
ulous beauty  of  the  celebrated  actress  Mademoiselle  Georges,  but 
that  he  also  had  openly  become  the  first  and  most  favored  of  her 
admirers,  and  figured  as  a  victor  where  other  aspirants  had  met 
with  signal  defeat.  This  liaison  was  not  secret  to  any  one,  not 
even  to  Josephine  the  empress.  Moreover,  she  was  in  no  posi- 
tion to  restore  the  often  wavering  fidelity  of  the  Emperor,  since 
she  herself  had  much  to  be  forgiven,  notwithstanding  all  that  was 
daily  said  in  the  official  columns  of  the  "  Moniteur"  concerning 
the  undeviating  wedded  faith  of  Josephine. 

Napoleon,  who,  up  to  that  time  as  a  mere  General,  had  found 
no  special  occasion  to  plume  himself  upon  any  great  success  with 
the  fairer  half  of  creation,  was  more  fortunate  as  Emperor,  and 
was  readily  listened  to  by  the  rival  beauties  of  the  day.  In  Mad- 
emoiselle Georges,  the  loveliest  woman  of  her  time,  he  flattered 


64      THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR, 

himself  that  he  really  had  made  a  complete  conquest,  looked  upon 
her  as  his  exclusive  property,  became  enamored  and  jealous. 
Among  the  intelligence  which  he  received  from  Paris,  on  the  day 
after  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  was  a  message  from  his  Minister  of 
Police,  informing  him  that  Mademoiselle  Georges  had  passed 
several  days  at  Ouvrard's  pleasure  palace  of  Raincy,  and  had 
there  performed  one  of  her  very  best  parts.  General  Berthier, 
who  had  hastened  onward  four-and-twenty  hours  in  advance  of  the 
Emperor,  on  his  return  from  Vienna,  instantly  sent  for  Ouvrard, 
and  intimated  to  him  that  this  circumstance  had  in  no  light  de- 
gree contributed  to  exasperate  the  Emperor,  and  accelerate  his 
hasty  return  to  Paris. 

I  had  seen  and  admired  Mademoiselle  Georges  the  preceding 
year,  during  the  short  period  I  spent  in  Paris,  on  my  journey  to 
Amsterdam  ;  and  limited  as  my  sojourn  in  that  capital  had  been, 
I  still  had  found  an  opportunity  to  get  a  peep  at  life  behind  the 
scenes  of  the  new  imperial  regime.  The  literary  circles  of  the 
capital  were  just  at  that  moment  taken  up  with  a  new  tragedy, 
which  the  celebrated  play  writer  and  poet  Renouard  was  then  pre- 
paring to  bring  out  in  the  Theatre  Francais,  under  the  title  of 
"  Les  Templiers"  (The  Templars).  The  part  of  Ignaz  de  Molay, 
the  Grand  Master  of  the  Templars,  was  in  the  hands  of  Talma  ; 
the  parts  of  the  King  and  the  Queen  were  given  to  Lafond  and 
Mademoiselle  Georges.  The  rehearsals  had  been  finished.  The 
time  for  the  first  performance  fixed  upon,  and  the  intended  pre- 
sence of  the  Emperor  and  Empress  everywhere  announced. 

Paris  at  that  time  was  in  a  buzz  with  all  kinds  of  anecdotes 
about  the  remarkably  splendid  set  of  diamonds  which  had  been 
offered  to  the  Empress  by  the  court  jeweller  Fossin,  and  which 
consisted  of  a  diadem,  necklace,  and  pendants  for  the  ears.  The 
price  which  had  been  asked  for  this  superb  ornament  was  half  a 
million  of  francs  ;  and,  unless  my  memory  fails  me,  I  recollect  to 
have  heard  at  that  time  of  another  smaller  sum,  that  is  to  say, 
about  three  hundred  thousand  francs.  Josephine,  whose  purse 
was  always  empty,  in  consequence  of  her  propensity  for  extrava- 
gance, had  expressed  a  desire  to  obtain  possession  of  these  dia- 
monds, but  the  Emperor  would  not  hear  of  either  of  these  sums. 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  65 

Paris  had  a  great  deal  to  say  concerning  the  scenes  that  passed 
between  Josephine  and  Napoleon  in  consequence  of  this  affair  ; 
they  were  the  ever-recurring  topic  of  conversation  among  the 
ladies  generally,  to  whose  curiosity  the  jeweller  was  indebted  for 
very  frequent  visits.  People  wanted  to  see  what  it  was  that  an 
Emperor  could  deny  to  his  Empress. 

On  the  appointed  day,  placards  announcing  the  first  representa- 
tion of  "  The  Templars"  were  visible  at  all  the  street  corners. 

I  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  procure  a  parquet  ticket  for  a  seat 
on  the  second  row  of  benches,  from  which  I  could  get  a  good  view 
of  the  imperial  pair.  I  saw  them  enter  their  box,  on  the  left  of 
the  house,  and  take  their  seats,  Napoleon  foremost  and  Josephine 
close  beside  him.  In  the  beginning  of  the  second  act,  their  majes- 
ties the  king  and  queen  appeared  upon  the  stage.  Mademoiselle 
Georges,  in  the  full  splendor  of  her  incomparable  charms  and  her 
splendid  figure,  heightened  the  imposing  scene  by  a  dazzling  dia- 
dem, ear-drops,  and  necklace,  all  glittering  with  the  most  superb 
diamonds.  As  she  approached  the  imperial  box,  Josephine,  who 
was  leaning  forward  on  the  front  rail,  betrayed  a  hasty  movement 
of  surprise,  and  then  suddenly,  as  if  struck  by  lightning,  sank 
back  into  her  seat — for  in  the  magnificent  adornment  of  the 
actress  she  had  recognized  the  jewels  she  was  so  anxious  to  pos- 
sess. During  this  little  episode  in  the  imperial  box,  Napoleon 
remained,  as  might  have  been  expected,  entirely  unmoved.  For 
the  Parisian  world  such  an  incident  as  this  was  a  regular  mine  of 
fresh  anecdotes  concerning  the  scenes  which  they  opined  must 
have  taken  place  in  the  private  chambers  of  the  TuiUeries,  after 
their  majesties  returned  from  the  theatre. 

I  merely  repeat  what  I  saw  and  heard.  Moreover,  Napoleon, 
although  in  his  earlier  days  as  a  general,  had  not  always  been 
fortunate  in  his  advances  to  the  fair  sex,  was  never  at  any  time 
an  indifferent  observer  of  female  beauty  on  the  stage.  When  he 
marched  into  Milan,  the  capital  of  Lombardy,  as  victor,  after  the 
battles  of  Lodi  and  Areola,  Grassini,  the  greatest  dramatic  canta- 
trice,  and  also  the  greatest  beauty  of  her  time,  was  singing  at  the 
Teatro  delta  Scala.  The  victorious  General,  who  never  dreamed 
of  a  successful  resistance,  nevertheless  encountered  it  in  the  per- 


QQ  THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR, 

son  of  this  lovely  prima  donna,  the  aunt  of  Julia  Grisi,  who  after- 
wards became  so  celebrated.  She  wouli  not  listen  to  him.  Now 
it  so  happened  that  Madame  Grassini  was  once  more  the  prima 
donna  of  the  Delia  Scala  Theatre  when  Napoleon  again  returned 
to  Milan,  to  place  the  iron  crown  of  the  Italian  kingdom  on  his 
head.  The  motto  it  bore,  "  Gare  a  qui  me  touche !"  was  one 
which  Madame  Grassini  had  not  thought  of  adopting  for  herself. 
Old  love  does  not  burn,  says  the  proverb,  and  that  was  also 
Napoleon's  sensation  as  he  met  Madame  Grassini  for  the  second 
time.  The  acquaintanceship  between  the  everywhere  victorious 
leader  and  the  equally  successful  cantatrice,  had  now  no  longer 
any  obstacle  in  its  way.  Napoleon — and  I  am  indebted  for  this 
story  to  Madame  Grassini  herself,  whom  I  again  saw  some  years 
after  in  a  Paris  salon — once  ventured  to  ask  her,  in  one  of  those 
moments  when  even  a  twice-crowned  head  will  lay  aside  its  dig- 
nity, why  she  had  in  former  years  so  disdainfully  rejected  his 
addresses,  and  now  gave  them  so  ready  a  hearing — surrendered 
to  him  in  fact  all  that  she  had  to  yield.  "  Ah,  Sire !"  was  her 
reply,  "  you  were  then  but  a  little  whiffet  of  a  general — now  you 
are  an  emperowr  (such  was  her  Italian  accent) — that  is  quoite  a 
different  thing  !"  Napoleon,  she  told  me,  laughed  very  heartily 
at  this,  and  said,  "  You  are  right !  That  makes  it  doux"  (or 
deux,  as  she  would  call  it).* 

But  let  us  return  to  Ouvrard  himself  About  four  millions  of 
piastres  remained  in  his  hands,  from  the  proceeds  of  his  contracts 
for  the  Spanish  navy,  in  royal  drafts  on  the  Mexican  treasury. 
He  revolved  in  his  own  mind  the  idea  of  going  in  person  to  New 
Spain  to  realize  this  capital,  with  the  intention  of  then  applying 
it  as  the  basis  of  some  gigantic  business-combinations  he  thought 
of  bringing  to  bear  in  the  East  Indies.  He  was,  however,  com- 
pelled to  abandon  this  scheme,  in  consequence  of  the  First  Consul 
denying  him  permission  to  leave  the  country.  Bonaparte,  who 
was  just  then  busied  with  the  campaign  that  terminated  on  the 
field  of  Marengo,  needed  money — and  he  had  learned  to  feel  that, 

*  The  humor  of  this  play  on  words  is  lost,  in  translation.  Where  the  Em- 
peror intimates  that  his  exalted  rank  gives  a  zest  to  their  liaison,  Madame 
Grassini's  imperfect  accent  creates  quite  a  different  meaning. — Trana. 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  67 

in  Ouvrard  he  possessed  the  only  man  who  could  procure  it  for 
him,  and,  for  the  time  being,  suppressed  his  secret  dislike  to  so 
useful  an  ally.  He  caused  General  Berthier  to  summon  Ouvrard 
into  his  presence,  and  addressed  him  in  the  following  words: 
"  Now,  Mr.  Ouvrard,  will  you  give  me  twelve  millions  of  francs  ] 
we  shall  then  understand  each  other  !  You  know  already  what  I 
think  of  your  transactions  with  the  Marine  Department !"  The 
reply  to  this  was  :  "  General !  I  have  four  to  ask  of  you."  After 
a  good  deal  of  argument  pro  and  con,  says  Ouvrard,  "  I  received 
an  order  for  the  four  millions.  This  appearance  of  integrity 
seduced  me,"  he  goes  on  to  say  ;  "  but  more  than  all,  the  manifold 
promises  the  First  Consul  made  me;  and  yet  still,  the  very  most 
of  all," — this  is  his  own  confession, — "  my  innate  taste  for  great 
operations  was  what  induced  me  to  accept  the  part  offered  me  by 
Napoleon,  of  contractor-general  to  the  government." 

Under  these  circumstances  Ouvrard  was  obliged  to  give  up  his 
projected  visit  to  Mexico.  But  he  procured  from  the  Spanish 
government  the  passports  requisite  for  a  trip  into  that  country,  for 
his  brother,  who  was  established  at  Philadelphia,  under  the  firm 
of  Ouvrard,  De  Chailles  and  Co.  The  brother  was  very  well  re- 
ceived, taken  by  the  Royal  Treasurer  to  his  own  residence,  and 
thence  admitted  into  the  Treasury  itself,  where,  owing  to  the  inter- 
ruption of  trade  with  the  mother  country,  occasioned  by  the  war, 
some  seventy-one  millions  of  dollars  were  accumulated.  There- 
upon, the  treasurer  pointed  out  to  him  a  number  of  marked  chests 
containing  four  millions  of  piastres  which  had  been  put  apart  as  a 
separate  deposit  for  the  liquidation  of  the  six  bills  of  exchange  in 
Ouvrard's  hands. 

A  written  acknowledgment  of  this  deposit  from  the  treasurer 
was,  several  years  later,  of  great  assistance  in  the  transactions 
that  afterwards  took  place  between  Ouvrard  and  the  house  of 
Hope  and  Co. 

The  fearful  rise  in  the  price  of  bread  that  occurred  at  Paris,  in 
the  year  1802,  had  compelled  the  First  Consul  to  assemble  the 
eight  leading  bankers  of  the  capital :  Perregaux,  Recamier,  Ful- 
chiron  and  others,  to  consult  with  in  regard  to  the  measures  that 
were  to  be  adopted  for  public  relief.     However,  these  gentlemen 


6S       THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR, 

did  not  feel  sufficient  confidence,  and  they  would  not  make  any 
orders  for  foreign  breadstuffs  without  the  ready  cash  in  hand. 
Much  annoyed  at  his  ill  success  in  this  affair,  Napoleon  summoned 
Ouvrard  to  him  at  Malmaison,  whither  the  latter  at  once  repaired, 
accompanied  by  Vanlerberghe,  the  usual  participant  in  his  enter- 
prises, and  finally  offered,  for  the  simple  commission  of  2  per  cent., 
to  undertake  a  contract  to  supply  all  the  wheat  required  by  the 
capital,  and  ship  it  to  Havre.  The  sums  expended,  which  had  to 
be  repaid  progressively,  accordingly  as  the  bills  drawn  in  England, 
Holland  and  Hamburgh,  for  the  necessary  purchases,  fell  due,  ran 
up  to  the  total  of  twenty-six  millions  of  francs.  On  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  very  first  bill,  the  Minister  of  the  Public  Treasury, 
Barbe  Marbois,  declared  that  he  had  no  money,  and  it  was  only 
after  the  lapse  of  eighteen  months,  and  when  an  understanding 
had  been  come  to  for  striking  off  the  whole  commission,  amount- 
ing to  half  a  million  by  itself,  that  the  two  operators  succeeded, 
after  the  greatest  trouble,  in  getting  back  the  capital  they  had  ad- 
vanced. Notwithstanding  this  want  of  good  faith  and  punctuality, 
Bonaparte  did  not  hesitate  to  ask  Ouvrard  to  take  in  hand,  under 
certain  conditions,  the  immensely  increased  necessities  of  his  naval 
service,  occasioned  by  the  projected  descent  upon  England.  Ouv. 
rard,  whom  experience  had,  indeed,  made  wiser,  but  who,  as  he 
himself  states,  did  not  dare  to  say,  no  !  lest  he  should  increase  the 
difficulties  attending  a  reimbursement  of  the  large  claims  in  arrear 
he  already  had  on  the  government,  gave  his  consent,  in  June,  1803, 
for  the  term  of  six  years  and  three  months !  The  contractors 
were,  as  early  as  the  spring  of  1804,  in  an  unsecured  advance  of 
no  less  a  sum  than  68,845,000  francs. 

The  extraordinary  and  increasing  necessities  of  the  different 
ministries  which  kept  pace  with  Napoleon's  gigantic  plans,  and 
which  Ouvrard  had  pledged  himself  to  supply,  and  the  nearly 
absolute  impossibility  of  procuring  the  enormous  sums  they  ret 
quired,  without  great  sacrifice,  owing  to  the  then  existing  condi- 
tion of  public  credit  in  France,  often  subtracted  on  the  one  side 
far  more  than  they  could  hope  to  gain  upon  the  other.  They, 
just  at  this  very  time,  occasioned  Ouvrard  and  his  partner  Van- 
lerberghe, large  losses,   and  the  unheard   of  cash  payment   of 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  69 

43,000,296  francs,  which,  had  the  government  possessed  the 
means  of  discharging  its  obligations  to  its  contractors  punctually 
and  regularly,  they  would  have  been  certain  to  escape.  Napo- 
leon, who  never  had  a  correct  idea  of  wrhat  credit  means,  and 
never  considered  it  worth  while  to  make  any  regulations  applica- 
ble to  it,  but  looked  upon  bankers,  merchants,  and,  most  espe- 
cially, public  purveyors,  as  so  many  birds  of  prey,  found  it  con- 
venient, by  squeezing  the  mercantile  classes,  to  take  from  them 
what  they  fancied  they  had  rightfully  earned,  and  yet  openly  ap- 
plauded and  professed  the  principle  that  war  should  pay  itself, 
and  be  supported  at  the  expense  of  the  enemy.  He  would  not 
tolerate  nor  listen  to  any  intimation  that  in  this  way  public  welfare 
would  be  undermined,  but  without  even  enriching  the  State.  From 
his  character,  and  from  the  sway  he  yielded  to  his  passions,  it 
may  be  readily  conceived  that  this  system  had  become  to  him  a 
second  nature.  Yet,  to  any  one  wrho  has  never  experienced  the 
charm  that  accompanies  a  vast,  extended  commerce,  reacting  far 
beyond  the  usual  limits,  or  learned,  from  experience,  how  its  un- 
foreseen consequences  often  render  it  impossible  to  recede  from 
it,  at  will,  the  wronderful  organization  of  a  man  like  Ouvrard  must 
remain  incomprehensible,  plunging  continually  deeper  and  deeper 
as  he  did  into  the  whirlpool  of  business,  notwithstanding  his  cor- 
rect estimate  of  the  tendencies  and  prejudices  that  ruled  Napo- 
leon, and  notwithstanding  the  constantly  recurring  instances  of 
his  want  of  good  faith.  Ouvrard  could  not  have  extricated  him- 
self from  the  vortex  into  which  he  had  plunged,  even  had  he 
wished  to  do  so.  This  is  evident,  from  the  whole  history  of  his 
life  and  actions.  "  It  was  ever  a  clamorous  necessity  that  drove 
me  into  these  affairs,"  he  says :  but  the  key  to  this  linked  laby- 
rinth of  necessities  lay,  usually,  in  the  monstrous  proportions  of 
the  first  undertaking,  which  was  far  beyond  even  his  strength. 
.  In  the  Ministry  of  Public  Finance  it  seemed  to  have  been 
adopted,  as  a  rule,  always  to  connect,  with  partial  payments  of 
old  debts,  a  series  of  new  demands ;  and  Barbe-Marbois,  the  head 
of  that  department,  finally  got  so  far,  that  he  prevailed  upon  Ouv- 
rard to  assume  a  fresh  contract,  to  supply  all  the  requirements 
and   wants   of  the  Treasury  for   the  year  1804   (An  XIII),  an 


70       THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR, 

amount  likely  to  reach  the  sum  of  400,000,000  francs.  The  in- 
ducement held  out  to  Ouvrard  consisted  in  granting  him  the 
license  of  using  the  bare  receipts  given  him,  on  the  two  Ministries 
of  War  and  the  Marine  for  advances  made,  as  cash  payments  on 
account  of  the  new  advances ;  so  that,  definitively,  the  State  re- 
mained his  sole  debtor  for  all  the  enormous  advances  he  had 
directly  or  indirectly  made. 

Spain  had,  in  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  France,  made  herself 
available  for  a  yearly  subsidy  of  72,000,000  francs,  of  which 
32,000,000  had  already  fallen  due,  without  one  single  franc  having 
been  accessible,  through  either  the  mediation  of  the  Spanish  banker 
Hervas,  or  the  French  Ambassador  at  Madrid.  Ouvrard  was, 
once  more,  the  man  on  whom  Napoleon  laid  his  hand  to  bring 
about  the  payment  of  this  sum  ;  and  the  Minister  Barbe-Marbois 
was  willing,  so  far  as  the  Treasury  was  concerned,  to  hold  Mr. 
Desprez,  and,  for  the  requirements  of  the  Navy,  Mr.  Vanler- 
berghe  responsible,  in  Ouvrard's  place,  whereby,  as  Ouvrard 
affirms,  it  was  understood  that  the  latter  should  be  entirely  re- 
leased from  all  the  obligations  transferred  to  the  shoulders  of  the 
other  two  contractors,  but  under  the  condition  that  he  should 
again  make  an  advance  of  the  whole  amount,  viz.,  32,000,000  due 
from  Spain.  In  this  way  they  thought  Ouvrard  could  step  for- 
ward as  the  personal  creditor  of  the  Spanish  Crown,  and  other 
advantages  might  be  gained  from  his  agency  on  this  occasion.  At 
length  Ouvrard  went  on  to  Madrid,  after  having  made  the  de- 
sired advance ;  but  upon  his  arrival  in  the  Spanish  capital  found  the 
public  Treasury  so  empty,  that  it  could  not  even  raise  the  half  mil- 
lion of  francs  needed  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  King's  trip  to 
his  pleasure  palaces.  Ouvrard  opened  his  mission  by  instantly 
furnishing  that  amount,  the  moment  he  heard  of  the  pinched  po- 
sition of  the  Royal  purse,  and,  with  great  skill  brought  to  bear 
two  methods  of  obtaining  admission  to  the  (at  that  time)  all- 
powerful  Prince  of  Peace  (Principe  de  la  Paz),  and  prepare  a 
favorable  reception  for  the  proposals  he  had  to  make.  One  of 
these  methods  consisted  in  drawing  a  vivid  picture  of  the  effect 
of  anger  on  a  man  of  such  indomitable  will  as  Napoleon  pos 
sessed  ;  the  other  was  in  making  adroit  reference  to  the  Kingdom 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  71 

of  Portugal,  which,  as  every  one  knew,  had  a  large  portion  of 
Godoy's  most  secret  wishes.  Ouvrard  did  not  forget  to  assure 
him  that  he  was  among  the  very  men  of  whom  Napoleon  liked  to 
form  kings.  Both  these  means  worked  well ;  so  much  so,  indeed, 
that  at  length  it  seemed  as  if  there  would  be  something  done  in 
earnest.  Don  Miguel  Cay.  Soler,  the  Minister  of  Finance,  de- 
declared,  at  an  interview  in  the  Prince's  presence,  that,  with  the 
best  will  in  the  world,  the  coffers  of  the  Treasury  did  not  contain 
a  dollar ;  with  the  additional  remark  that  the  most  pressing  thing 
now  was  to  provide  for  the  general  dearth  of  food ;  money  was 
needed  for  that,  and  it  had  to  be  procured.  Other  things  could 
be  attended  to  afterwards.  When  Soler  had  retired  the  Prince, 
turning  to  Ouvrard,  said,  "  Now,  Sir,  you  have  heard  all — more  I 
cannot  tell  you — give  Don  Miguel  your  advice,  and  I  will  support 
your  claims  with  his  Majesty.  I  feel  greatly  concerned  not  to  see 
your  mission  fail.  Come  to  see  me  every  day."  The  most  natural 
plan  surely  would  now  have  been  to  raise  a  heavy  loan  to  pay  the 
subsidies  due  to  France,  besides  providing  for  the  future  necessities 
of  the  Treasury,  and  remedying  the  scarcity  of  food  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. But  the  difficulties  that  lay  in  the  way  of  these  measures 
were  of  no  common  order.  These  were:  first,  to  acquire  the 
confidence  of  the  foreign  bankers,  especially  those  of  Holland, 
who  were  to  furnish  the  funds,  and  could  depend  upon  the  security 
offered.  The  treasures  which  were  lying  at  the  command  of  the 
Spanish  government  in  Mexico,  Peru,  and  elsewhere,  but  which 
could  not  be  reached,  on  account  of  the  war  then  going  on,  were 
the  only  resources  Spain  had  to  extricate  her  from  the  embarrass- 
ments that  surrounded  her ;  for  all  other  fountains  of  relief  had 
run  completely  dry.  To  make  them  available  as  security  for  re- 
payment was  the  task  now  undertaken  by  Ouvrard,  who,  as  a 
preliminary  condition  to  his  exertions,  demanded,  firstly,  the  ex- 
clusive monopoly  of  the  commerce  with  the  Spanish-American 
colonies;  secondly,  the  free  exportation  of  all  the  gold  and  silver 
stored  up  there  belonging  to  the  government ;  and,  thirdly,  full 
power  to  make  loans  even  in  America,  under  the  guarantee  of  the 
Financial  Bureaux  existing  in  Spanish  America,  and  their  promises 
to  reimburse.     This  latter  condition,  however,  betrayed  a  very 


72  THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR, 

imperfect  knowledge  of  American  affairs.  At  the  moment  when 
Ouvrard  was  making  these  propositions,  he  was  continually 
pressed  by  the  French  Financial  Minister,  Barbe-Marbois,  to  send 
on  to  Paris,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  gold  and  silver  he  had  re- 
ceived. The  proverbial  slowness  and  caution  of  the  Spaniard  did 
not  belie  itself  in  this  instance,  and  the  Prince  of  Peace,  who  had 
constantly  fretted  at  the  payment  of  the  subsidies  to  France, 
finally  hesitated  to  adopt  the  only  means  which  Ouvrard  had  pro- 
posed. The  latter  found  himself  at  length  obliged  to  remind  the 
Prince  of  the  letter  which  the  Emperor  had  written  with  his  own 
hand  to  the  King  of  Spain,  the  moment  he  was  made  aware  of 
Godoy's  former  hesitation  concerning  the  subsidies,  and  had  sent 
to  the  Ambassador,  Beurnonville,  that  he  might  transmit  it  to  the 
king  in  person.  The  letter  referred  to  contained  threats,  very 
direct  hints  at  the  intimate  relations  subsisting  between  the  Royal 
Consort  and  Godoy,  and  a  peremptory  request  to  expel  the  latter 
from  the  country. 

The  Prince  had  managed  to  weather  this  storm,  but  it  would 
not  be  advisable  to  expose  himself  to  such  danger  a  second  time, 
as  he  was  given  to  understand  by  Ouvrard,  who  breakfasted  with 
him  every  day.  A  fresh  letter  for  the  minister,  Barbe  Marbois, 
teeming  with  renewed  threats  by  the  emperor,  in  consequence  of 
the  delay  and  hesitation  at  Madrid,  took  Ouvrard  in  haste  once 
more  to  the  Prince  of  Peace.  There  he  suddenly  found  himself 
in  the  presence  of  Queen  Caroline.  Our  skillful  financier  could 
not  pass  by  so  favorable  an  opportunity  of  expressing  to  her  his 
apprehensions  of  the  danger  that  menaced  the  position  of  her 
acknowledged  favorite,  and  the  immediate  consequence  was,  that 
Ouvrard  received  an  invitation  to  occupy  apartments  in  Godoy's 
palace.  When  Madrid  was  made  acquainted  with  this  unusual 
mark  of  favor,  all  the  barriers  with  which  the  haciendas  and  other 
authorities  had  surrounded  themselves  up  to  that  time,  were  at 
once  thrown  down.  Ancient  prejudices  and  long  familiar  customs 
were  laid  aside,  and  the  negotiations  had  in  a  few  days  reached  a 
point  to  which  they  had  not  attained  in  months  before.  Ouvrard 
now  hit  upon  immediate  means  of  at  once  remedying  that  most 
distressing  of  all  evils,  scarcity  of  food,  and  on  the  26th  of  No- 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  To 

vember,  1804,  concluded  a  contract,  endorsed  by  the  government, 
with  the  "  Junta  d'Anona"  of  Madrid,  to  supply  two  million  cent- 
ners of  corn  from  the  French  ports,  at  26  francs  per  centner. 
Then  on  the  same  day  he  signed  agreements  with  the  Ministries 
of  War  and  the  Marine  to  supply  all  they  might  require  during 
several  years,  and  finally  gave  his  signature  to  a  trade-contract, 
of  which  the  world  had  hitherto  seen  no  example.  This  was  a 
contract  for  the  establishment  of  a  common  and  mutual  commer- 
cial partnership,  under' the  firm  Ouvrard  and  Co.,  between  him 
and  Charles  IV.  king  of  Spain  himself,  for  the  whole  duration  of 
the  war.  The  main  conditions  of  this  partnership  were  :  Firstly, 
full  power  to  import  on  partnership-account  into  all  the  harbors 
of  Spanish  America,  every  description  of  goods  and  products 
needed  for  colonial  consumption,  during  the  whole  continuance  of 
the  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  at  the  same  time  complete  author- 
ity tb  export  thence,  duty  free,  all  their  productions,  but  more 
especially  their  gold  and  silver  ;  secondly,  the  stipulation  that  all 
profits  resulting  from  the  transactions  of  this  partnership,  should 
be  divided  in  equal  halves  between  his  Catholic  Majesty  and  Mr. 
Ouvrard.  Napoleon  approved  of  Ouvrard's  contract  for  the 
exportation  of  two  million  centners  of  corn  from  the  French 
ports,  under  the  condition  that  he  should  pay  an  export-duty  of 
four  francs  per  centner,  or  about  eight  million  francs,  which  were 
handed  over  in  cash  at  Paris.  Ouvrard  also  received  from  the 
English  government  the  passes  requisite  for  the  transportation  of 
the  grain  for  which  he  had  contracted.  His  agreement  with  the 
"Junta  d'Anona,"  the  permission  to  export  already  received  from 
Napoleon,  and  that  of  the  English  government  to  effect  the  trans- 
portation, were  published  by  Ouvrard  in  all  the  Spanish  news- 
papers, and  produced  a  magical  effect.  Wheat  fell  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  Spanish  government  offered  Mr.  Ouvrard  a  million 
of  dollars  as  a  reimbursement,  if  he  would  give  up  his  contract ; 
he,  however,  declined  this  offer,  and  contented  himself  with 
reducing  it  to  the  ships  which  had  already  sailed  from  the  French 
ports.  '  Directly  after  the  conclusion  of  his  commercial  agree- 
ment with  king  Charles  IV.  of  Spain,  Ouvrard  was  placed  in  pos- 
session of  five  hundred  royal  licenses  for  the  introduction,  duty 

4 


74       THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR, 

free,  of  every  description  of  goods  into  the  colonies.  These 
licenses,  provided  with  the  signature  of  Don  Miguel  Cayetano 
Soler,  left  the  name  of  the  ship  and  its  captain,  the  amount  of  his 
tonnage,  its  flag  and  the  nature  of  its  cargo,  in  blank.  Then,  upon 
the  18th  of  December,  1804,  Ouvrard  received,  in  behalf  of  the 
proposed  commercial  partnership,  752  drafts,  or  livranzas,  of  the 
Madrid  Chamber  of  Finance,  and  the  Court  Bankers,  Garochi, 
Nephew  and  Co.,  for  the  sum  of  52,500,000  piastres.  Ouvrard 
now  hastened  back  to  Paris;,  revived  in"  the  management  of  his 
business-transactions  with  the  Ministries  of  War,  the  Marine,  and 
the  Interior,  that  activity  which  had  been  wanting  in  them  during 
his  absence,  and  then  repaired  in  April,  1805,  to  Amsterdam  to 
explain  his  agreements  and  plans  to  Messrs.  Hope  and  Co.  I 
have  often  heard  from  Mr.  Labouchere's  own  lips  the  confirmation 
of  what  Ouvrard  related  concerning  his  first  interview  with  the 
two  heads  of  the  latter  house,  Mr.  John  Williams  Hope  and 
himself:  namely,  that  as  he  unfolded  before  them  his  combina- 
tions, plans,  and  stupendous  views,  those  two  gentlemen  gave  each 
other  a  mutual  look  of  amazement,  and  might  have  even  betrayed 
a  serious  doubt  whether  he  was  in  the  full  possession  of  his  under- 
standing. So  they  asked  for  a  couple  of  days  that  they  might 
think  his  propositions  over.  When  the  circumspect  Labouchere, 
who  had  not  been  able  to  form  any  very  clear  idea  either  of  Ouv- 
rard's  capital,  or  of  his  circumstances  and  present  available  means 
from  that  gentleman's  own  statements,  regarding  his  connections 
with  the  French  and  Spanish  governments,  and  their  War  and 
Marine  Departments,  nor  exactly  to  unravel  the  tangled  thread 
of  his  surprising  narratives  which  made  light  of  millions  upon 
millions,  declared  to  him  that  the  basis  of  an  arrangement  with  the 
house  of  Hope  and  Co.  could  be  nothing  less  than  an  unlimited 
confidence  in  himself,  and  that  if  their  participation  in  his  business 
was  worth  any  thing  to  him,  he  must  bind  himself  to  them  on  all 
sides,  and  surrender  himself  completely  to  their  discretion,  refrain 
from  all  interference  in  the  manner  and  way  they  might  see  fit  to 
adopt  in  carrying  out  his  plan,  agree  to  them  before  hand,  acknow- 
ledge the  correctness  of  their  accounts  before  hand,  and  with  this 
intent  place  twelve  blank  letters  with  his  signature  in  their  posses- 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  75 

sion.  How  they  intended  to  operate,  was  communicated  to  him 
only  in  outline,  and  he  was  given  to  understand  that,  for  the 
present,  they  would  confine  themselves  to  the  practical  part 
already  within  reach,  to  the  royal  bills  of  exchange  on  Mexico, 
Havana,  &c,  and  to  the  use  of  the  licenses  accordingly  as  they  had 
to  be  handed  in.  Ouvrard  consented  to  every  thing,  and  so,  on 
May  6th,  1805,  a  very  simple  agreement  was  concluded  between 
their  house  and  him.  Messrs.  Hope  and  Co.  bound  themselves  to 
assume  the  use  of  the  licenses  on  his  account,  and  for  a  stipulated 
commission  of  5  per  cent,  upon  all  transactions  arising  from  the 
same,  bearing  the  cost  of  agencies  themselves,  and  then  to  pay 
over  to  Ouvrard  or  his  properly  authorized  representative,  the  net 
results  of  the  same  as  soon  as  they  themselves  should  have 
received  them.  They  likewise  engaged  to  make  good  the  equiva- 
lent of  all  the  bills  drawn  on  them  with  3  francs  75  centimes  on 
the  piastre,  as  soon  as  they  should  be  handed  in  and  have  left  the 
ports  of  the  Spanish  colonies,  duty  free.  Hereupon,  Ouvrard 
relinquished  into  the  keeping  of  Messrs.  Hope  and  Co.,  who  were, 
moreover,  commissioned  to  negotiate  a  loan  for  the  Spanish  crown, 
the  greater  part  of  the  documents  and  bills  remaining  in  his  hands, 
and  returned  to  Paris  and  Madrid.  There  I  shall  leave  him,  and 
refer  to  his  embarrassments  and  fate,  only  when  the  develop- 
ment of  my  own  history  leads  me  naturally  back  to  him,  and 
the  duty  thence  arising  of  clearing  up  his  memory,  may  require  it. 
For  he  was,  incontestably,  the  man  who  first  made  the  elements 
of  credit  distinctly  visible  to  his  nation,  and  greatly  served  the 
latter  by  even  his  wildest  operations^  at  a  time  when  the  interior 
household-management  of  a  state  was  scarcely  understood,  much 
less  seriously  laid  hold  of,  by  Napoleon.  The  acts  of  injustice 
done  to  him  by  Napoleon,  and  pursued  with  a  degree  of  obstinacy, 
were  of  the  most  crying  kind ;  but  they  have  been  unfortunately 
palliated  in  a  truly  frivolous  manner,  in  the  20th  chapter,  6th 
volume  of  Thiers'  History  of  the  Consulate  and  Empire ;  although 
the  historian  who,  by  the  way,  was  scarcely  out  of  bibs  and  tuck- 
ers at  the  time  when  they  occurred,  has  tried  hard  to  show  that  he 
has  drawn  his  narrative  from  authentic  sources.     These  sources 


76       THE  BANKER  AND  GENERAL  PURVEYOR. 

were  Napoleon's  ordered  compilations  of  events  under  his  do- 
minion ! 

In  the  business  undertaken  by  the  Messrs.  Hope,  the  London 
house  of  Baring  Brothers  and  Co.  took  part ;  yet  this  fact  was 
kept  secret,  on  account  of  the  state  of  relations  existing  during 
the  war.  I,  at  that  time,  had  no  knowledge  of  the  circumstance, 
and  only  heard  it  upon  my  first  return  from  America,  when  Mr. 
Henry  Hope  communicated  it  to  me. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  MEXICAN  BUSINESS  OF  MESSRS.  HOPE  &  CO. 

The  basis  of  the  plan  laid  down  in  Amsterdam,  and  its  execution  in  the  Uni- 
ted States — David  Parish  of  Antwerp  intrusted  with  the  chief  control  of 
this  business,  and  Mr.  A.  P.  Lestapsis,  from  Hope's  counting-house,  and  I, 
charged  with  the  two  most  important  branches  of  the  money  management ; 
the  former  in  Vera  Cruz,  and  myself  in  New  Orleans — My  departure  from 
Amsterdam  for  New  York — Breaking  out  of  the  yellow  fever  there — 
Excursion  to  Boston — Arrival  of  the  exiled  General  Moreau  in  New  York — 
Arrival  of  David  Parish  in  New  York — Final  consultations  there — My  arri- 
val at  New  Orleans,  on  the  first  Easter  Sunday,  1806 — Sketch  of  the  state 
of  things  in  that  city— Governor  Claiborne — The  land  speculator  John 
McDonough — The  lawyer  Edward  Livingston — My  first  appearance  in  New 
Orleans,  as  a  business  man — The  yellow  fever,  which  had  spared  me  in 
New  York,  seizes  me  here — The  Conspiracy  of  the  former  Vice  President 
of  the  United  States,  Aaron  Burr — General  Wilkinson — The  rencontre  of 
the  American  frigate  Chesapeake  with  the  British  man-of-war  Leopard,  in 
the  year  1807 — Its  influence  upon  my  business  relations — General  expecta- 
tion of  war  with  England. 

Two  different  methods  were  devised  to  lift  the  immense  hoard- 
ings of  silver  on  deposit  in  Mexico,  and  transport  it  thence.  One 
of  these  was  to  procure  from  the  British  government,  notwith- 
standing the  war  with  Spain,  permission  to  transport  the  silver 
piastres  from  Vera  Cruz  to  England.  At  that  time  great  scarcity 
of  coin  prevailed  in  England,  especially  of  silver  change,  and  in 
this  respect  the  British  East  India  Company  was  much  inconve- 
nienced, as  it  required  large  supplies  to  pay  its  hands  and  keep 
its  various  establishments  throughout  India  agoing.  The  first 
attempt  to  obtain  such  permission  failed.  Pitt,  the  British  Prime 
Minister,   refused   it,  because   it  was   evidently  contributing  to 


78  THE  MEXICAN  BUSINESS  OF 

strengthen  the  enemy's  hands,  and  open  sources  of  aid  and 
comfort  which  the  war  had  closed  against  him.  But  the  wisdom 
and  correct  feeling  of  the  statesman  soon  were  re-awakened  in 
him,  when  he  perceived  and  weighed  the  advantages  this  supply 
of  silver,  once  in  the  hands  of  the  East  India  Company  and  the 
London  Exchange,  would  yield  to  British  trade.  To  heighten  the 
prosperity  of  British  commerce  was  to  increase  the  general  wel- 
fare. Napoleon  openly  expressed  very  different  opinions ;  for, 
when  a  deputation  of  commercial  men  came  out  from  Antwerp  to 
welcome  him  on  his  approach  to  that  city,  he  met  them  with  the 
words:  "I  don't  like  merchants!  A  merchant  is  a  man  who 
would  sell  his  country  for  a  shilling  !"  Je  n'aime  pas  les  nego- 
tiants? Un  negotiant  est  un  homme  qui  vendrait  sa  pa  trie  pour 
un  petit  ecu  !  He  despised  the  walks  of  trade,  and  in  one  of  his 
consultations  with  Ouvrard,  uttered  the  reproach  that  he  had 
degraded  royalty  to  the  level  of  trade.  "  Vous  avez  abaisse  la 
royaute  au  niveau  du  commerce  /" 

In  short,  Pitt  finally  gave  his  consent  to  dispatch  four  frigates, 
who,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  war  with  Spain,  very  quietly 
appeared,  one  after  the  other,  in  the  roads  of  Vera  Cruz,  and  with- 
out any  interruption  took  on  board  about  fourteen  millions  of 
piastres  from  the  treasury  of  Mexico,  and  brought  the  treasure 
back  to  England.  Yet,  fourteen  millions  were  not  more  than  one 
quarter  of  the  whole  amount  which  it  was  desirable  to  transfer 
from  Mexico  to  Europe.  By  far  the  greater  part  was  not  to  be 
transmitted  in  hard  cash,  but  through  the  natural  channels  of  trade, 
by  dispatching  consignments  of  goods  from  America,  especially 
from  the  United  States,  to  the  ports  of  Europe.  The  United 
States,  which  were  at  that  time  wholly  in  possession  of  the 
carrying  trade,  presented  the  most  extensive  field  for  the  pur- 
chase of  all  kinds  of  colonial  produce — not  merely  their  own, 
such  as  cotton  and  tobacco,  but  also  of  each  and  every  other 
kind,  such  as  coffee,  sugar,  pepper,  &c,  &c. — since  the  latter  were 
regularly  shipped  thither,  without  the  least  difficulty,  on  Ameri- 
can account,  and  under  the  protection  of  their  neutral  flag.  But 
the  war  between  England  and  the  Continent,  which  obeyed  the 
orders  of  Napoleon,  as  well  as  the  watchfulness  of  the  English 


MESSRS.  HOPE  &  CO.  79 

fleets  and  cruisers,  made  the  transport  of  such  purchases,  for  the 
account  of  even  the  Messrs.  Hope,  almost  impossible.  Measures 
had  therefore  to  be  taken  to  give  them  the  character  of  neutral 
property,  not  in  appearance  merely,  but  in  reality ;  and  this  could 
be  done  only  by  stimulating  the  enterprising  spirit  of  the  Ameri- 
can merchants  to  send  shipments  on  their  own  account  into  Conti- 
nental Europe,  taking  out  their  insurance  in  England,  making 
advances,  and  for  their  amount  accepting  bills  on  the  drawer, 
which  the  Messrs.  Hope  themselves  looked  about  for  and  indorsed, 
as  being  of  a  kind  that  had  their  full  and  entire  confidence.  In 
this  manner  the  home-returning  capital  accumulated  interest  and 
increased,  even  through  the  enormously  heavy  commissions  which 
remained  to  be  raised  on  these  consignments.  The  whole  combi- 
nation was  a  most  excellent  one,  but  could  be  easily  and  naturally 
carried  into  execution  only  in  such  a  country  as  the'  United  States, 
where  the  enterprising  spirit  knows  no  bounds,  but  where  the 
capital  of  the  venturer  is  limited.  * 

Two  great  difficulties  still  lay  in  the  way  of  an  entire  realiza- 
tion of  the  whole  plan.  The  first  and  most  important  of  these 
was  to  effect  the  realization  of  the  values  payable  in  coin  in  Mexico, 
and  their  transport  to  the  United  States.  The  moneys  would 
have  to  be  exported  under  the  American  flag  and  on  American 
account.  But  such  immense  capitals  as  these  could  only  be  made 
neutral  by  paying  a  heavy  commission,  and  respectable  houses 
would  in  no  case  have  lent  themselves  to  it.  People  had  not  yet 
forgotten  that  a  single  house  in  the  North  of  Europe  had,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  English  and  French  war,  covered  such  a  multi- 
tude of  ships  and  cargoes  and  made  them  neutral,  that  the  Eng- 
lish cruisers,  put  on  their  guard  by  the  frequent  re-appearance  of 
the  same  names  in  the  consignment  papers  and  bills  of  lading, 
availed  themselves  of  this  suspicious  circumstance,  to  call  them 
up  and  obtain  their  condemnation  as  good  and  lawful  prizes.  The 
latter  was  pronounced  because  it  seemed  impossible  that  any  one 
house  could  cover  the  seas  with  such  a  huge  amount  of  capital  as 
was  here  seen  afloat  at  one  time.  The  means  of  overcoming  the 
first  difficulty  was  to  be  looked  for  in  the  United  States  them- 
selves.    From  this  arose  the  second,  namely,  the  selection  of  a 


80  THE  MEXICAN  BUSINESS  OF 

man  who  should  unite  sufficient  mercantile  experience  with  large 
intelligence  and  knowledge  of  men ;  and  moreover,  should  possess 
the  capacity  for  making  combinations,  so  as  to  devise  ways  and 
means  of  successful  exit  where  they  would,  otherwise,  remain  hid- 
den from  the  eyes  of  the  common  observer.  The  Barings  wished 
to  give  the  management  of  this  business  over  to  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Samuel  P.  Labouchere,  already  named,  who  was  then  conducting 
the  French  correspondence  of  their  house ;  but  his  elder  brother, 
who,  as  head  of  the  Hope  establishment,  had  concluded  the  con- 
tract with  Ouvrard,  pointed,  out  David  Parish  (who,  after  the 
peace  of  Amiens,  had  founded  a  mercantile  concern  at  Antwerp), 
as  the  man  who,  all  the  circumstances  considered,  would  be  the 
most  suitable — Mr.  Samuel  P.  Labouchere  not  appearing  to  be  a 
person  thoroughly  fitted  for  the  post.  Mr.  P.  C.  Labouchere  had 
got  to  know  the  man  of  whom  I  speak — the  third  son  of  a  John 
Parish,  a  Scotch  merchant  established  at  Hamburgh,  shortly 
after  the  opening  of  his  Antwerp  house  in  Paris,  and  had  very 
quickly  discovered  his  keenness  of  perception,  his  skill,  and  his 
remarkable,  nay,  almost  instinctive  knowledge  of  human  nature. 
Besides  possessing  all  these  valuable  qualities,  he  was  a  pleasant 
companion  without  being  a  very  well  read  man,  had  agreeable 
manners,  and  was  a  most  excellent  whist-player.  It  was  generally 
hinted,  although  I  could  never  positively  verify  the  story,  nor 
even  credit  it,  that  he  was  indebted  to  his  large  winning  at  play 
in  Hamburgh  for  a  considerable  portion  of  the  capital  with  which 
he  had  commenced  his  establishment.  Ojie  thing,  however,  is 
quite  certain,  and  Mr.  Labouchere  was  well  acquainted  with  the 
fact,  that  within  a  very  short  time  after  opening  his  concern,  Par- 
ish had  managed  to  more  than  treble  the  amount  invested,  and 
this  in  a  very  simple  way.  During  his  sojourn  in  Hamburgh, 
and  before  his  trip  to  the  United  States,  the  Archbishop  Talley- 
rand had  been  very  kindly  received  and  entertained  by  the  Parish 
family,  and  had  even  been  provided  with  funds  by  them.  When 
Napoleon  visited  Belgium  for  the  first  time,  and  stopped  for  some 
days  in  Antwerp,  Mr.  David  Parish  entertained  Prince  Talley- 
rand in  his  magnificently  furnished  dwelling ;  and  this  renewed 
acquaintance  with  a  son  of  the  family  who  had  received  him  with 


MESSRS.  HOPE  A  CO.  81 

such  kindness  on  a  former  occasion,  led  to  an  intimacy  which, 
under  the  agreeable  influences  of  the  best  table  in  Antwerp,  and 
frequent  matches  at  cards  for  high  stakes— two  things  the  Prince 
especially  liked,  and  could  appreciate  as  perfectly  as  his  host  him- 
self— became  daily  stronger,  and  finally  produced  a  confidential 
interchange  of  sentiment.  The  Prince,  as  everybody  knows,  was 
not  at  all  regardless  of  the  advantages  opened  to  him  by  his  posi- 
tion. We  all  have  heard  to  what  excellent  account  he  turned  the 
first  intelligence  of  the  victory  at  Marengo,  and  thereby  enriched 
himself.  A  no  less  certain  opportunity  to  make  another  similar 
speculation  was  now  thrown  in  his  way.  Talleyrand,  as  Napo- 
leon's Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  possessed  the  key  of  what 
passed  in  the  emperor's  mind  concerning  political  and  interna- 
tional matters,  and  was  well  aware  that  the  speedy  outbreak  of  a 
war  with  Great  Britain  was  inevitable.  The  certain  rise  of  prices 
for  every  species  of  colonial  produce,  in  such  a  case,  was  evi- 
dent. The  Prince,  ere  he  left  Antwerp,  came  to  an  understanding 
with  his  young  friend,  and  the  latter  made  use  of  the  hint  he  got, 
to  employ  all  the  capital  and  credit  he  could  command  in  large 
purchases  of  colonial  goods  at  Antwerp  and  elsewhere.  Soon 
after  Napoleon's  return  to  Paris,  the  memorable  scene  in  the 
Tuilleries  with  Lord  Whitworth  occurred  ;  and  a  declaration  of 
war  and  an  important  rise  in  the  price  of  all  colonial  products  fol- 
lowed. The  first  very  striking  result  had  given  Mr.  David  Parish 
considerable  weight  in  the  eyes  of  Mr.  Labouchere ;  and  the  fact 
of  his  having,  young  as  he  was,  managed  to  ingratiate  himself 
into  the  confidence  of  such  a  man  as»  Talleyrand,  was  regarded  as 
a  proof  of  undeniable  merit,  and  his  capacity  for  the  management 
of  the  greatest  interests.  Of  course  it  was  not  difficult  for  Mr. 
Labouchere  to  prevail  upon  Parish  to  intrust  the  interests  of  his 
Antwerp  house  entirely  in  the  hands  of  his  partner,  G.  Agie,  and 
accept  the  agency  of  his  projected  business  in  America.  The 
business  itself  held  out  great  inducements,  and  the  conditions 
under  which  the  agency  was  arranged  were  no  less  favorable. 
These  conditions  were :  Firstly,  that  Mr.  David  Parish  should 
enjoy  one  full  fourth  of  the  business  advantages  and  profits  arising 
from  these  transactions ;  secondly,  that  Parish  was  not  to  under- 

4* 


82  THE  MEXICAN  BUSINESS  OF 

take  any  separate  business  that  did  not  go  to  the  common  account 
of  both  the  partners  interested,  namely,  Hope  &  Co.,  and  David 
Parish ;  thirdly,  all  the  travelling  and  other  necessary  expenses 
were  to  be  charged. 

Two  head  agents  were  still  necessary :  one  for  Mexico,  to  pre- 
sent the  bills  of  exchange  and  get  them  cashed,  to  ship  the  coin 
at  Vera  Cruz,  and  oversee  the  sale  of  the  ships'  cargoes  coming  in 
under  license  ;  the  other  at  New  Orleans,  to  receive  the  coin  as  it 
arrived,  to  dispatch  the  cargoes  of  German,  English  and  French 
manufactured  goods  coming  in  from  Europe  to  Vera  Cruz  under 
accompanying  licenses,  and  to  make  over  to  the  merchants  in  the 
latter  city  as  many  licenses  a?  the  opportunity  would  admit.  For 
my  own  part,  there  was  no  necessity  for  any  longer  delay  in  Eu- 
rope during  the  financial  preparation  of  the  instructions  which  Mr. 
Parish  was  to  bring  over  to  me.  I  consequently  embarked  dur- 
ing the  first  days  of  July,  1805,  in  the  American  ship  Flora,  com- 
manded by  Captain  Daniel'  Sterling,  for  New  York.  I  arrived 
after  a  voyage  of  42  days,  which  was  looked  upon  at  that  time  as 
a  very  rapid  one.  The  astonished  consignee  of  the  ship,  who  had 
not  even  heard  of  its  arrival  in  Amsterdam,  was  standing  on  the 
quay  to  welcome  me,  its  only  passenger,  and  his  friend  the  cap- 
tain. The  world  into  which  I  found  myself  now  transported,  was 
entirely  new  to  me.  I  had,  owing  to  the  at  that  time  extreme 
rarity  of  authentic  works  concerning  the  United-  States,  read  so 
little  about  them,  that  I  had  possessed  a  very  imperfect  idea  about 
the  country,  and  had  conceived  it  to  be,  in  consequence  of  the 
thoroughly  savage  condition  in  which  the  land  had  been  discovered 
and  gradually  peopled,  much  further  behindhand  in  civilization 
than  I  found  it.  . 

I  distinctly  remember  a  circumstance  which  will  give  my 
readers  an  excellent  conception  of  the  singular  ideas  I  entertained 
in  regard  to  the  state  of  things  in  America,  as  compared  with  the 
notions  of  our  captain  concerning  the  perfection  of  his  native 
country.  It  simply  happened  one  day  that  an  excellent  umbrella 
was  broken  on  deck  during  a  violent  storm,  and  I  asked  the  cap- 
tain, if  he  thought  I  could  replace  it  with  as  good  a  one  in  New 
York  ;  when  he  replied  quite  sharply  :  "  God  bless  me  !  ask  me 


MESSRS.  HOPE  &  CO.  83 

whether  the  sun  shines  in  New  York."  It  must  be  remembered 
that  this  occurred  forty-seven  years  ago,  and  at  that  time  in  Ger- 
many, America  was  generally  looked  upon  as  a  sort  of  penal  col- 
ony or  rendezvous  for  all  kinds  of  scamps  and  worthless  fellows. 
When  I  first  informed  my  parents  that  I  was  "going  thither,  my 
mother  at  once  exclaimed  :  "  It  cannot  be  possible  that  you  have 
taken  into  your  head  this  unfortunate  idea  of  going  to  America  1 
Who  knows  what  advantage  they  may  take  of  your  inexperience  !" 
A  few  days  after  my  arrival  in  New  York,  the  yellow  fever 
broke  out  in  that  city.  When  I  was  about  starting  from  Amster- 
dam, Mr.  Labouchere  had  asked  me  if  I  was  afraid  of  the  yellow 
fever ;  "  for" — he  added — "  if  you  do  feel  afraid  of  it,  you  must 
not  go  to  America,  as  you  will  be  certain  to  die  there  !"  I  had 
said  that  I  felt  no  apprehension,  and  as  I  really  did  not  feel  at  all 
timid  about  it,  I  was  determined  to  push  boldly  on  for  New  York. 
But  the  houses  to  which  I  was  recommended  gave  me  to  under- 
stand that,  as  business  was  generally  very  quiet  in  the  months  of 
July,  August  and  September,  and  the  city  was  deserted  by  every 
one  who  could  get  away,  it  would  be  imprudent  for  me  to  stay 
there.  I  followed  their  advice  and  went  to  Boston ;  but  after  a 
six  weeks'  sojourn  there  and  in  Philadelphia,  returned  to  New 
York.  A  few  days  after  my  arrival  in  the  latter  city,  a  rumor 
was  circulated  that  a  ship  from  Cadiz  had  entered  the  bay  with  the 
exiled  General  Moreau  on  board.  It  was  not  long  before  all  the 
militia  drums  were  heard  in  every  part  of  the  city,  and  their  com- 
mander-in-chief, a  lawyer  by  the  name  of  Morton,  went  galloping 
about  in  all  directions,  on  horseback,  in  the  uniform  of  a  general, 
followed  by  his  adjutants,  principally  young  law-students,  as  if  he 
imagined  that  Moreau  had  also  begun  his  career  in  the  legal  pro- 
fession. At  any  rate,  he  dashed  about,  commanding  and  counter- 
manding, and  urging  the  greatest  haste  in  the  preparations  every 
body  was  making  for  a  grand  display  in  the  long  main  street  of 
the  city,  called  Broadway,  which  extends  to  the  public  promenade 
designated  as  the  Battery.  It  was  at  the  latter  point  that  the  dis- 
tinguished stranger  was  to  land.  His  debarkation  took  place 
about  an  hour  later.  The  general,  clad  in  citizen's  style,  with  a 
blue  coat  and  pantaloons,  mounted  a  horse  prepared  for  him,  amid 


rf4  THE  MEXICAN  BUSINESS  OF 

music  and  the  acclamations  of  the  crowd,  and  rode  up,  surrounded 
by  his  staff  of  parti-colored  militia,  along  the  main  street  to  the 
City  Hall.  Each  separate  company  of  each  and  every  battalion, 
wore  their  own  peculiar  and  frequently  extremely  singular  uni- 
form, and  it  was  impossible  to  look  at  the  ensemble  of  this  mili- 
tary assemblage  in  any  other  light  than  as  a  harlequin  parade ; 
but  the  officers  of  this  remarkable  body  were  in  no  slight  degree 
proud  of  it,  and  when  General  Moreau  had  reached  the  City  Hall, 
he  was  very  gravely  asked  by  General  Morton  what  he  really 
thought  of  the  American  troops  ?  The  general  is  said  to  have  re- 
plied that  he  had  never  seen  such  soldiers  in  the  whole  course  of 
his  life !  which  somewhat  ambiguous  compliment  was  several 
times  repeated  to  me,  at  the  same  time  with  the  greatest  serious- 
ness, as  something  highly  honorable  to  the  American  military.* 

Some  American  amateurs  had  got  up  a  great  concert  on  the 
same  evening  in  the  long  saloon  of  the  "  City  Hotel,"  at  that  time 
the  largest  public  house  in  the  place.  General  Moreau  was  in- 
vited to  be  present,  and  promised  to  comply.  The  street-corners 
were  at  once  covered  with  large  hand-bills,  announcing  in  immense 
capitals  that  he  would  attend  the  concert.  I  could  not  deny  my- 
self the  pleasure  of  getting  a  near  view  of  this  distinguished  man, 
and  so  went  to  the  musical  entertainment.  There  was  a  great 
crowd  present,  but  the  most  striking  personage  in  the  throng  was 
by  no  means  General  Moreau,  of  whom  every  body  remarked 
that  he  did  not  look  at  all  like  a  French  general,  because  he  sim- 
ply wore  a  blue  coat ;  but  General  Morton  in  his  Washington  uni- 
form, with  a  blue  coat  and  yellow  facings,  &c.  The  latter  intro- 
duced to  the  general  every  one  who  wanted  to  take  a  good  stare 
at  him,  and  the  shaking  of  hands  with  ladies  and  gentlemen  went  on 
as  if  it  never  would  end.  At  length  I  managed  to  force  my  way 
close  up  to  these  two  great  leaders,  Morton  the  lawyer  and  militia 
hero,  and  the  hero  of  Hohenlinden.     Just  as  I  got  there,  a  quaker 

*  When  Marshal  Bertrand  was,  some  years  ago,  visiting  the  north-western 
portion  of  the  United  States,  and  had  arrived  at  Buffalo,  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  a  review  of  the  citizen  militia  was  held  there  in  his  honor;  and  the 
newspapers,  on  that  occasion,  revived  the  old  anecdote  of  thirty  years  before, 
and  put  in  his  mouth  the  words  I  have  just  attributed  to  Moreau. 


MESSRS.  HOPE  <fe  CO.  85 

had  himself  introduced  to  the  latter,  and  shaking  him  heartily  by 
the  hand,  uttered  the  following  words  :  "  Glad  to  see  you  safe  in 
America  ! — Pray,  General — say,  do  you  remember  what  was  the 
price  of  cochineal  when  you  left  Cadiz  !"  The  victor  of  Hohen- 
linden  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  was  unable  to  reply. 

Some  days  after  this  military  festival,  my  friend  Lestapis 
arrived  from  Amsterdam  with  a  portion  of  the  documents  required 
to  carry  on  our  business.  We  passed  our  time  for  several  weeks 
very  pleasantly.  The  well-known  hospitality  shown  to  every 
stranger,  possessing  the  least  cultivation,  who  arrives  in  the  United 
States,  made  it  easy  for  us  to  enjoy  ourselves.  At  length,  in  the 
beginning  of  November,  David  Parish  arrived.  The  news  of 
some  very  large  commercial  enterprise  had  already  preceded  him, 
and,  although  the  nature  of  the  undertaking  had  not  become, 
known,  the  greatest  curiosity  followed  every  step  he  took.  Ii\ 
New  York,  the  whole  combination  of  the  enterprise  which  had 
been  fully  discussed  at  Amsterdam,  was  unfolded  and  analyzed, 
and  my  friend  Lestapis  and  myself  set  out,  each  for  his  post ;  he 
to  Vera  Cruz  and  I  to  New  Orleans,  where  a  whole  cargo  of  Ger- 
man linens  had  arrived,  and  was  awaiting  me.  The  fast-sailing 
schooner  Aspasia  had  brought  it  to  its  destination.  I  went  over- 
land to  Charleston,  and  as  (contrary  to  all  expectation)  there  was 
no  suitable  craft  there  on  which  I  could  take  passage  for  New 
Orleans,  I  purchased  the  schooner  Regulator,  and  went  in  it  to  the 
latter  port. 

It  was  on  Easter  Sunday,  1806,  that  I  first  set  foot  on  the  soil 
of  Louisiana,  where  I,  five  years  later,  was  invested  .with  the 
rights  of  citizenship,  and  I  reached  the  city  of  New  Orleans  before 
nightfall. 

Louisiana,  originally  a  French  colony,  then  Spanish,  and  then 
again  French,  had,  as  every  one  knows,  been  sold,  shortly  before 
the  time  of  which  I  speak,  to  the  United  States  by  the  French  gov- 
ernment, for  fifteen  millions  of  Spanish  dollars,  and  had  been  soon 
afterwards  organized  as  a  territory.  It  possessed  an  elective  legis- 
lature, chosen  by  the  people,  but  the  Governor  received  his  ap- 
pointment from  the  President  of  the  Confederation,  which  high 
post  was  at  that  moment  occupied  by  Thomas  Jefferson.     The 


86  THE  MEXICAN  BUSINESS  OF 

political  rival  of  this  celebrated  man,  in  the  struggle  for  the  Pres- 
idency, had  been  Aaron  Burr,  and  it  was  said  that  the  vote  of  a 
representative  from  Kentucky,  named  William  Cole  Claiborne, 
had  turned  the  scale  at  the  election,  and  secured  Jefferson's  suc- 
cess. Such  a  service  as  this  had  been  rewarded  by  the  President 
elect  with  no  less  a  mark  of  favor  than  Claiborne's  appointment  to 
the  governorship  of  Louisiana.  To  make  way  for  him,  the  French 
prefect,  Laussat,  a  man  of  education  and  refinement,  possessing 
all  the  manners  of  a  French  courtier,  was  removed.  Claiborne 
was  exactly  the  reverse ;  of  fine  personal  appearance,  but,  in  all 
other  respects,  a  coarse,  rude  man,  and,  at  the  same  time,  very 
sharp  and  knowing,  as  most  Americans  are.  The  greater  part  of 
the  then  existing  population  was  of  French  origin.  In  the  city 
itself  the  French  number  at  least  three-fifths  of  the  inhabitants  ; 
one  other  fifth  was  of  Spanish  race,  and  another  Americans, 
among  whom  were  some  Germans.  The  city  numbered  about 
16,000  souls,  of  whom  one-third  were  people  of  color  and  slaves. 
The  mercantile  class  was  made  up  of  four  or  five  French  estab- 
lishments, springing  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  Garonne,  and 
founded  during  the  continuance  of  the  French  rule  ;  three  Scotch 
counting-houses,  one  German  concern,  and  eight  or  ten  commission- 
houses,  lately  opened  by  young  American  merchants  from  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore.  The  traces  of  this  class,  who 
carried  on  the  early  business  of  New  Orleans  under  the  new 
regime,  are  now  limited  to  the  sugar-planter  Shepherd,  who  is 
still  living,  and  now  very  wealthy,  and  to  the  still  more  opulent 
Mr.  W.  M.  Montgomery,  formerly  wholesale  grocer,,  and  now  the 
owner  of  a  large  portion  of  the  northwestern  section  of  the  State, 
who  lives  partly  at  New  York  and  "partly  at  Paris.  Shepherd, 
whom  I  have  just  named,  who  was  but  two-and-twenty  when  he 
came  from  Baltimore  to  New  Orleans,  was  accompanied  thither 
by  a  young  American  from  the  same  place,  who  could  not  have 
been  more  than  a  few  years  older  than  himself.  The  latter 
brought  some  six  or  eight  thousand  dollars  with  him,  and  after, 
for  a  considerable  time,  exploring  all  sorts  of  uncultivated  lands 
lying  along  the  Mississippi,  made  a  choice  and  purchased.  This 
young  man  was  John  McDonough,  who  made  such  constant  parade 


MESSRS.  HOPE  &  CO.  87 

of  the  lands  he  had  bought,  so  well  understood  the  game  of  making 
fictitious  sales  to  his  friend  Shepherd,  at  very  high  rates,  and 
through  him  to  others  at  still  higher  prices,  and  pursued  this  sys- 
tem, observing,  at  the  same  time,  great  frugality  at  home,  so  long 
and  so  skilfully,  that  at  length  real  purchasers  fell  into  his  net,  and 
made  themselves  part  and  parcel  of  it.  McDonough  talked  very 
little,  and  seldom  mixed  in  general  conversation,  especially  with 
ladies,  whose  society  he  avoided  as  much  as  possible.  When  he 
did  open  his  lips,  all  that  fell  from  them  was  praise  of  certain 
lands  he  had  just  purchased,  and  this  theme  was  inexhaustible. 
It  was  not  in  Louisiana  alone  that  he  carried  on  this  system,  but 
also  in  neighboring  States,  and  he  continued  it  for  more  than  forty 
years.  He  passed  his  spare  time  in  looking  after  the  education  of 
some  children  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  homely  residence  on  an 
estate,  or,  as  they  call  it  in  the  South,  a  plantation,  belonging  to 
him.  He  also  occupied  himself  with  the  amateur  study  of  medi- 
cine. McDonough  died  in  October,  1851,  and,  upon  the  opening 
of  his  will,  it  was  discovered,  that  at  the  time  of  his  death  he 
owned  four-fifths  of  all  the  uncultivated  lands  in  the  State  of  Louis- 
iana, and  many  tracts  of  territory  in  other  States,  to  the  very 
considerable  amount  of  fifteen  millions  of  dollars.  During  the 
lapse  of  some  thirty-four  years  I  saw  him  very  frequently,  the 
last  time  in  1839,  and  knew  but  one  relation  of  his,  a  brother  who 
was  a  pilot,  and  died  early,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  of  the  yellow 
fever.  McDonough  himself  died  without  heirs,  either  direct  or 
collateral,  and  has  made  over  his  whole  property  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  that  it  shall  expend  the  same  in  the 
establishment  of  public  schools.  Beside  this  general  direction, 
there  are  a  number  of  small  bequests  and  codicils  of  very  curious 
nature  appended  to  his  will.  One  of  the  oddest  of  these  is  the 
bequest  made  to  Leon  Gozlan,  in  Paris.  This  well-known  writer 
some  years  ago  published  a  romance  called  the  "  Medecin  du 
Pecq,"  which,  in  every  point  of  view,  but  especially  by  some  very 
peculiar  and  profound  psychological  studies,  attracted  the  greatest 
notice  throughout  France.  The  editor  of  the  "  Courrier  des  Etats 
Unis"  republished  it  in  the  feuilleton  of  that  widely  circulated 
paper,  and  it  thus  fell  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  McDonough,  who 


88  THE  MEXICAN  BUSINESS  OF 

read  it  at  home  in  his  solitary  hours,  and  was  so  charmed  with 
some  of  the  author's  observations  on  the  world  and  men,  that  he 
made  him  his  heir  to  the  amount  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  This 
sum  was  lately  handed  over  to  Mr.  Gozlan  by  Mr.  Rives,  the 
late  American  Ambassador  at  Paris,  in  a  check  on  the  house  of 
Albrecht  &  Co.,  in  Havre. 

I  now  return  from  this  episode  to  the  many-colored  scenes  of 
my  own  changeful  life.  What  notions  were  entertained,  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  Union,  of  such  a  community  as  made  up  the 
population  of  New  Orleans,  is  clearly  conveyed  by  an  anecdote 
of  my  friend,  Mr.  M.  Amory,  of  Boston,  whose  newly-established 
house,  under  the  firm  of  Amory  &  Cullender,  had  received  the 
cargo  of  Schleswig  linens  sent  from  Europe,  and  then  held  it  in 
charge  for  me.  Just  as  he  was  on  the  point  of  starting  from 
Boston  for  New  Orleans  he  had  seen  in  the  newspapers  an  adver- 
tisement of  a  ship  about  to  sail  direct  to  the  latter  port,  and  then 
looking  for  passengers  and  freight.  Amory  called  upon  the 
owner  to  recommend  to  him  his  young  house  as  consignee.  The 
owner  told  him  in  confidence  that  he  had  not  at  all  intended  to  send 
his  ship  to  New  Orleans,  but  that  he  had  published  the  advertise- 
ment only  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  among  the  passengers 
who  would  apply  for  berths,  a  rascal  who  had  swindled  his  bro- 
ther of  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  "  For,"  added  the  owner, 
"  I  consider  it  probable  that  he  will  try  to  leave  for  New  Orleans, 
which,  as  everybody  knows,  is  a  regular  rendezvous  for  all  sorts 
of  rogues  and  rabble." 

Among  these  people,  thus  generally  looked  upon  as  the  offscour- 
ings of  the  northern  States,  I  found  a  man  of  remarkable  intel- 
lectual powers  and  real  talent.  This  man  was  the  celebrated 
Edward*  Livingston,  originally  from  the  State  of  New  York.  He 
had  been  a  lawyer  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  had  there,  as  a 
member  of  the  Municipal  Council,  performed  the  functions  of 
Recorder.  In  that  respect  he  had  played  a  highly  important  part, 
and  had  once  represented  the  State  itself  in  the  Senate  at  Wash- 
ington. At  length  there  was  suddenly  discovered,  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  municipal  income  of  the  city,  then  in  the  hands  of  the 
Recorder,  an  inexplicable  deficit  of  $60,000.      Under  these  cir- 


MESSRS.  HOPE  <fc  CO.  89 

cum  stances,  it  was  impossible  for  Livingston  to  remain  any  longer 
in  the  place.*  He  then  emigrated  to  New  Orleans,  and  there 
began  his  career  anew  with  the  most  remarkable  success.  He 
there  married  the  young  and  fascinating  widow  of  a  legitimist  and 
legist  by  the  name  of  Moreau,  from  St.  Domingo.  The  lady's 
maiden  name  had  been  Davezac,  and,  after  the  destruction  of  the 
colony,  she  had  fled  with  her  mother,  sister,  and  one  brother,  first 
to  Jamaica,  and  then  to  Louisiana.  I  shall  hereafter  find  further 
occasion  to  speak  of  Livingston's  brother-in-law,  Auguste  Dave- 
zac. He  was  the  same  person  who,  some  years  after,  was  ap- 
pointed, by  President  Jackson,  to  the  post  of  American  Ambas- 
sador, and  was  from  there  summoned  to  Naples  to  draw  the 
indemnity  moneys,  but  was  soon  afterward  obliged  to  give  up  his 
place  at  the  Hague,  on  account  of  what  we  will  call — to  use  a  mild 
term — irregularities  in  the  arrangement  of  his  accounts.*  Dave- 
zac was  of  French  origin,  but  had  attained  great  readiness  in  the 
English  language,  and  was  employed  at  the  time  of  my  own  arri- 
val as  a  sworn  interpreter  in  the  Courts,  and  he  was  afterwards  in 
the  Legislative  Assembly  of  Louisiana.  He  had  at  length  be- 
come Livingston's  factotum,  and  had  made  himself  almost  indis- 
pensable to  that  gentleman,  in  hunting  up  the  evidence  among  the 
family  papers  of  the  French  planters,  and  in  procuring  witnesses 
who  were  ready  at  all  times  to  swear  to  anything  that  might  be 
required  of  them.  I  recollect  particularly  a  remarkable  criminal 
suit  against  a  certain  Beleurgey,  the  editor  of  one  of  the  first 
American  papers,  "  Le  Telegraphe"  by  name,  which  was  published 
at  New  Orleans,  in  the  French  and  English  languages,  during 
1806-'07.  The  accused  had  forged  the  signature  of  a  wealthy 
planter  for  the  purpose  of  raising  money,  and  when  he  was  de- 
tected had  confessed  his  guilt  to  the  planter  in  writing  and 
urgently  besought  him  not  to  appear  as  prosecutor.  The  planter 
felt  disposed  to  accede  to  this  request,  but  the  letter  was  already 
in  the  hands  of  justice.  How,  then,  did  Livingston  manage,  as  the 
attorney  and  advocate  of  Beleurgey,  to  secure  the  discharge  of 
the  accused,  notwithstanding  this  confession,  this  damning  evidence 
of  his  guilt  1  Davezac  got  together  witnesses,  who  swore  before 
the  Court,  that  they  had  long  known  Beleurgey  to  be  the  greatest 
*  See  Appendix. 


90  THE  MEXICAN  BUSINESS  OF 

of  liars,  from  whose  lips  there  never  fell  a  word  of  truth.  "  Look 
at  this  !"  said  Livingston  to  his  French  jury  ;  "  the  man  could  not 
tell  the  truth ;  the  very  acknowledgment  of  his  guilt  is  a  lie,  for 
only  a  fool  would  be  his  own  accuser.  So  then  Beleurgey  has 
either  lied,  or  he  has  not  the  control  of  his  own  understanding,  and 
in  either  case  has  not  been  conscious  of  what  he  was  doing,  and 
cannot  be  found  guilty  !"  So  the  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  by 
which  he  was  discharged  ! 

When  I  first  arrived  in  New  Orleans,  there  was  not  a  single 
house  there  possessed  of  any  capital  worth  mentioning,  and  an  hon- 
orable character  seemed  to  me  quite  as  great  a  rarity.  I  believed 
just  as  much  as  I  pleased  of  the  representations  made  by  the 
merchants  just  established  there  ;  and  with  all  their  boasting,  and 
great  parade  of  clearness,  it  was  quite  remarkable  that  my  expe- 
rience was  not  enriched  at  the  beginning,  by  the  knowledge  of 
some  unhandsome  trick  in  trade,  like  those  with  which  every 
other  man  seemed  to  have  been  proud  of  having  duped  his  neigh- 
bor. The  individual  who  succeeds,  with  a  certain  degree  of  skill,  in 
accomplishing  some  sharp  manoeuvre,  is  too  often  rewarded  in  the 
United  States  with  the  epithet  of  clever  fellow. 

In  Messrs.  Amory  &  Callender  I  discovered  unswerving  integ- 
rity, combined  with  a  certain  distrust  of  all  undertakings  which 
involved  the  least  risk ;  and  it  was  precisely  in  consequence  of 
these  two  qualities,  which  are  rather  rare  in  American  business 
circles,  that  I  made  up  my  mind  to  employ  their  house  in  the  exe- 
cution of  my  plans.  I  had  not  yet  passed  a  fortnight  in  New  Or- 
leans, and  had  given  no  one  occasion  to  conjecture  what  my  object 
was  in  coming  to  the  place,  when  the  news  was  all  at  once  buzzed 
about  that  a  schooner,  under  the  American  flag,  six  days  from 
Veracruz,  had  arrived  in  the  Mississippi,  with  150,000  Spanish 
dollars  on  board  for  Vincent  Nolte. 

"  Hullo  !  who  can  that  be  V  every  one  began  to  ask ;  "  What, 
that  young  man  V  They  had,  however,  scarcely  ceased  *to  ex- 
press their  wonder,  when  another  schooner  from  Vera  Cruz  came 
in  with  $200,000  on  board,  and  finally,  ten  days  later,  a  third  one 
appeared,  which,  like  the  first,  brought  $150,000,  and  all  for  the 
same  young  man  !     The  French  planters  had  already  treated  me 


MESSRS.  HOPE  &  CO.  91 

with  some  distinction,  merely  from  the  fact  that  I  was  a  stranger. 
I  spoke  French,  but  now,  motif  de  plus  !  their  preference  knew  no 
bounds.  Not  a  ball  or  soiree  took  place  at  their  houses  to  which 
I  was  not  invited. 

I  had  already  passed  more  than  three  months  in  the  city,  when, 
in  the  beginning  of  August,  I  was  seized  with  a  terrible  attack  of 
yellow  fever.  A  burning  headache,  as  if  my  brain  was  on  fire, 
and  violent  pains  in  the  back,  were  the  first  symptoms.  The 
acquaintances  by  whom  I  was  surrounded,  and  among  them  a 
Spaniard,  by  the  name  of  Sere,  who  had  become  extremely  inte- 
resting to  me  through  his  connection  with  Vera  Cruz,  at  once 
called  in  their  favorite  physician,  a  Frenchman  by  the  name  of 
Raoul ;  and  this  man,  who,  in  all  other  respects  but  intimate 
knowledge  of  yellow  fever,  was  a  perfect  quack,  succeeded  in 
saving  my  life ;  with  the  very  correct  idea  that  the  yellow  fever  is 
nothing  but  a  violent  inflammation  of  the  gall,  he  instantly  gave 
me  a  powerful  emetic.  Then,  on  the  second  day,  another  one, 
and  on  the  third  a  strong  purgative.  My  consciousness  gradually 
returned,  and  at  length  I  was  out  of  danger,  although  desperately 
weakened  and  unnerved.  In  the  forenoon  of  the  third  day  the 
Cashier  of  the  Louisiana  Bank,  a  very  honorable  man,  by  the 
name  of  Zacharie,  came  to  me,  and  asked  me,  with  great  earnest- 
ness, if  I  had  made  my  will.  I  replied,  "  No,  why  V  "  Now,"  he 
responded,  "  I  need  not  tell  you  that  you  have  the  yellow  fever,  and 
it  is  more  than  probable  that  you  will  die  to-morrow."  I  raised 
my  head  to  listen.  "  For  the  fourth  day  is  the  critical  one, 
through  which  the  patient  seldom  survives.  You  have  treasure  ; 
large  sums  lying  in  the  bank  to  an  amount  never  yet  seen  here ; 
and  were  you  to  die,  this  capital  would  fall  into  extremely  unsafe 
hands.  The  administrators  of  the  property  of  foreigners  dying 
here  intestate,  appointed  by  the  State,  are  people  who  not  only 
merit  no  confidence,  but,  to  tell  you  the  honest  truth,  are  a  set  of 
shameless  rascals."  My  reply  was  that  I  did  not  at  all  feel  like 
dying,  and  that  I  would  not  die.  I  concluded  with  the  words, 
"  As  I  am  not  going  to  leave  the  world  yet  awhile,  I  don't  want  to 
bother  my  head  with  making  a  will."  Mr.  Zacharie  gave  me  a 
searching  look,  and  then  said,  "  Well,  indeed,  my  dear  Mr.  Nolte, 


92  AARON  BURR'S  CONSPIRACY. 

with  the  disposition  that  you  manifest,  I  do  feel  quite  sure  that  you 
are  not  going  to  die." 

In  the  autumn  of  1806*  there  circulated,  throughout  the 
United  States,  all  kinds  of  rumors  concerning  an  intended  or 
already  organized  conspiracy,  whose  object  was  to  separate  the 
Southern  from  the  Northern  States,  and  to  organize  a  second 
American  Republic.  At  the  head  of  this  conspiracy,  and  of  this 
projected  duplicate  republic,  stood  the  American  general,  Burr ; 
the  same  who  had  been  the  rival  candidate  of  Jefferson  for  the 
Presidency,  and  had  killed  Washington's  celebrated  Secretary, 
Alexander  Hamilton,  in  a  duel.  This  man  of  evil  reputation,  of 
whom,  as  was  generally  known,  Jefferson  was,  personally,  afraid, 
had  secretly  been  travelling  through  the  West,  and  had  there  won 
over  many  partisans.  It  was  even  said  that  General  Wilkinson, 
the  commander  of  the  small  military  force  then  maintained  by  the 
United  States,  and  a  militia  general,  by  the  name  of  Adair,  from 
the  State  of  Kentucky,  belonged  to  this  conspiracy.  In  New 
Orleans,  the  local  militia  was  organized  by  the  direction  of  the 
United  States  Government,  and  put  in  a  condition  to  bear  arms. 
The  Frenchmen  residing  in  that  city  formed  two  companies,  the 
Irish  a  third,  and  the  Germans  a  fourth.  The  latter,  without 
knowing  much  about  me,  appointed  me  their  Captain,  probably 
because  they  every  day  heard  of  my  money  deposits  in  the  bank. 
Military  capacity  I  did  not  possess,  and  my  sub-officers,  consisting 
of  store-clerks,  grocers  and  trades-apprentices,  learned  no  more 
of  the  service  than  I  had  picked  up  the  day  before. 

Suddenly  there  appeared  in  New  Orleans,  as  commander  of  the 
garrison,  the  very  general  above  referred  to,  who  had  fallen  under 
suspicion.  He  -at  once  mustered  the  local  militia,  and  had  them 
sworn  in,  so  that  he  might  exercise  full  authority  over  us  all,  as 
though  we  were  regular  troops  of  the  line.  He  then  had  two 
young  Americans,  named  Samuel  Swartwout  and  P.  V.  Ogden, 
suddenly  arrested,  put  on  board  a  small  goyernment  vessel,  and 
sent  to  Washington  as  accomplices  of  Burr.  A  few  days  later 
General  Adair,  of  Kentucky,  arrived  by  way  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  he  also  was  arrested  and  dispatched  to  the  capital.  At  last 
I  was  privately  informed  that  I  was  looked  upon  with  great  suspi- 


GENERAL  WILKINSON.  03 

cion  by  the  commanding  general,  since  he  had  ascertained  that 
the  house  of  Baring,  at  London,  had  placed  itself  in  readiness  to 
furnish  the  funds  necessary  to  secure  the  success  of  Burr's  con- 
spiracy, and  I  was  well  known  to  be  the  agent  of  that  firm. 
When  I  learned  that  Wilkinson  had  secretly  sent  for  a  ser- 
geant and  corporal  from  my  company,  and  questioned  them  con- 
cerning me,  it  seemed  perfectly  plain  to  me  that  the  general  was 
playing  with  false  cards,  and  I  resolved,  without  further  delay,  to 
go  right  to  him,  and  ask  him  what  was  running  in  his  head  about 
me.  He  received  me  with  a  certain  degree  of  solemnity,  took 
me  to  one  side,  raised  his  eyes  to  heaven,  and  talked  a  great  deal 
about  his  responsibility,  and  his  duties  to  God  and  the  country, 
which  required  that  he  should  exercise  the  greatest  vigilance  in 
all  directions.  Finally  he  showed  me  an  intercepted  letter,  writ- 
ten by  one  of  Burr's  accomplices,  in  which  the  following  words 
occurred  :  "  B.  has  undertaken  to  supply  all  the  funds  needed  to 
carry  out  the  whole  plan."  He  then  asked  me  what  I  thought  of 
that,  and  what  I  had  to  say.  My  reply  was,  briefly,  to  the  pur- 
port, that  he  must  look  to  better  authority  than  myself  to  find  out 
what  was  meant  by  those  words,  and  that  the  letter  B.  most  prob- 
ably indicated  his  friend  Burr  :  that  I  was  no  agent  of  the  Barings, 
and  that  if  he  would  do  me  the  honor  to  examine  them,  my  books 
were  open  for  his  inspection  :  above  all,  I  wished  to  know  whether 
he  was  satisfied  with  this  voluntary  declaration,  and  would  leave 
me  undisturbed.  Hereupon  he  seized  my  hand  with  the  same 
solemnity  that  had  characterized  his  first  reception  of  me,  once 
more  rolled  up  his  eyes,  and  said,  "  You  have  above  a  friend  and 
protector ;  you  are  an  honorable  man,  Mr.  Nolte ;  return  to  your 
home  in  peace."  And  thus  the  affair  terminated.  I  had  carefully 
watched  the  man,  and  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  an 
impostor,  and  most  likely  deeply  implicated  himself  in  Burr's 
plot.  The  result  has  proven  that  my  conjectures  were  correct. 
From  the  lawsuits  that  afterwards  arose  at  Washington,  out  of 
the  arbitrary  arrest  of  General  Adair,  and  Messrs.  Swartwout  and 
Ogden,  it  was  made  evident  that  he  had  promised  his  aid  to  Burr 
in  the  scheme,  but  had  withdrawn  from  it  in  good  season.  In  his 
defence  he  constantly  made  a  great  show  of  the  pompous  words, 


94  THE  LEOPARD  AND  CHESAPEAKE. 

*'  I  have  lopped  off  a  limb  to  save  the  body  of  the  Constitution  !" 
and  it  was  only  Jefferson's  preference  and  protection  that  saved 
him  from  the  consequences  of  his  irregular  behavior.  He  had, 
however,  forfeited  the  good  opinion  of  his  countrymen,  and  at 
length  went  away  to  Mexico,  where  he  died  a  few  years  after- 
wards. 

I  had  yet  another  trial  to  encounter  during  the  management  of 
the  interest  intrusted  to  my  care.  This  was  the  rencontre  be- 
tween the  English  man-of-war  Leopard  and  the  American  frigate 
Chesapeake,  off  the  entrance  of  the  bay  of  the  latter  name,  in  the 
summer  of  1807.  The  English  commander  had  received  very  ac- 
curate and  explicit  information  regarding  the  enlistment  of  several 
deserters  from  his  vessel  6n  board  of  the  American  frigate,  and 
when  the  latter  showed  herself  on  the  open  sea,  the  Leopard  bore 
right  down  to  her,  and  summoned  her  captain  to  surrender  the 
deserting  sailors.  This  the  American,  very  naturally,  refused  to 
do.  The  frigate  was  poorly  manned,  and,  in  all  other  respects, 
unfit  for  action.  The  first  shots  from  the  British  vessel  were  only  a 
few  times  answered,  and  then  the  Chesapeake  struck  her  flag.  Here- 
upon the  English  officers  came  on  board,  mustered  the  crew,  se- 
lected their  five  deserters  from  the  throng,  and  took  them  back  to 
the  Leopard.  This  occurrence  aroused  the  most  fearful  excite- 
ment in  the  United  States;  every  one  spoke  with  the  greatest  bitter- 
ness in  favor  of  immediate  war  with  England.  There  was  no  lack 
of  rash  counsellors,  who  endeavored  to  persuade  me  that  I  ought  at 
once  to  set  out  for  England  or  the  North  with  my  silver  deposits. 
But  I  was  too  well  aware  that,  on  the  part  of  England,  there  could 
be  no  good  and  sufficient  cause  for  war,  and  that,  so  far  as  the 
United  States  were  concerned,  war  could  only  be  declared  by 
Congress,  which  would  first  have  to  be  called  together  by  the 
President,  and  thus  several  months  must  elapse  before  the  country 
could  be  in  a  position  to  commence  hostilities,  even  supposing — a 
case  still  doubtful — that  Congress  should  deem  it  necessary  and 
wise  to  adopt  violent  measures. 


CHAPTER  V. 

DAVID  PARISH  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

The  measures  adopted  by  him — A  retrospective  glance  at  Ouvrard  and  hia 
affairs — Mismanagement  the  natural  result  of  the  unlimited  obligations  he 
had  assumed — Complicated  relations  with  the  French  State  Bank,  which 
thereby  finds  itself  obliged  to  suspend  specie  payments — Napoleon's  return 
after  the  peace  of  Presburg — Despotic  measures,  and  his  arbitrary  inter 
ference  with  Ouvrard's  business  relations,  by  which  the  whole  organization 
is  brought  to  the  ground — Napoleon  and  the  house  of  Hope  &  Co.  in  Am- 
sterdam, who,  with  becoming  dignity,  reject  his  propositions,  and  send  his 
agent,  afterwards  the  Baron  Louis,  home  with  a  flea  in  his  ear — The  French 
Consul,  General  de  Beaujour,  in  Philadelphia,  is  obliged  to  place  himself  in 
the  hands  of  Parish,  as  Mollien,  the  Minister  of  Finance,  is  also  compelled  to 
throw  himself  into  the  arms  of  Hope  &  Co — False  and  one-sided  judgment 
of  Ouvrard  by  Thiers,  who  never  did,  or  never  would,  comprehend  Ouv 
rard's  position  as  a  merchant. 

From  the  considerations  given  at  the  end.  of  the  last  chapter,  1 
remained  where  I  was.  A  retrospective  glance  now  carries  me 
back  to  the  central  point  of  the  important  business,  whose  chief 
control  was  intrusted  to  the  guidance  of  Mr.  David  Parish.  The 
latter  had  selected  Philadelphia  for  his  head-quarters,  as  an  inter 
mediate  point  between  New  York  and  Baltimore ;  from  which 
two  points  the  cargoes  of  goods  were  to  be  sent  out  under 
licenses,  and  where  the  most  considerable  returns  in  Spanish  dol- 
lars were  to  be  received.  After  consultation  with  some  of  the 
first  houses,  particularly  in  Baltimore,  where  the  best  fast-sailing 
clippers  are  built,  it  was  made  evident  that  insurances  upon  such 
shipments  were  not  to  be  thought  of,  since  no  less  than  twenty 
per  cent,  premium  was  required.  In  order  to  cover  a  capital  of 
$60,000,  at  such  a  premium,  one  would  have  to  insure  $75,000  ; 


06  DAVID  PARISH  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

so  that  in  shipping  and  insuring  four  cargoes,  each  of  the  value  of 
$60,000,  you  would  have  to  lay  out  a  total  of  $60,000  in  pre- 
miums ;  and  thus,  even  should  those  cargoes  reach  their  destina- 
tion in  safety,  you  would  have  diminished  your  capital  to  the 
extent  of  the  last-mentioned  sum — that  is  to  say,  out  of  $240,000 
you  would  have  only  $180,000  left.  Hence  it  may  be  perceived, 
that  our  four  uninsured  cargoes,  should  one  be  cast  away  and 
lost,  or  be  taken  by  belligerents,  and  the  other  three  arrive  in 
safety,  it  would  amount  to  the  same  thing  ;  and  that  as  a  loss  of 
one  in  four  would  be  a  very  rare  one,  even  in  time  of  war,  in  case 
fast  sailing  ships,  under  vigilant,  active  and  skilful  captains,  to 
whom  a  reasonable  recompense  had  been  promised,  should  they 
bring  their  voyage  to  a  successful  issue,  were  used.  We  adopted 
the  plan  of  building  immediately  and  at  the  same  time,  six  fast- 
sailing  vessels,  of  equal  value  and  equal  tonnage,  lading  them  with 
cargoes  worth  the  same  amount,  and  sending  the,m,  on  the  account 
of  the  parties  assuming  the  risk,  to  Vera  Cruz,  under  these  Span- 
ish licenses. 

In  this  consisted  the  first  measure  to  be  adopted.  The  second 
consideration  was,  what  premium,  or  what  amount  of  profit  was 
proportioned  to  the  licenses,  and  introduction  of  the  hitherto  ex- 
cluded goods  into  Mexico.  The  third  was,  who  should  bear  the 
expense  of  building  the  ships  and  procuring  their  cargoes.  With 
regard  to  these  two  points,  it  was  deemed  most  advisable  to  make 
them  both  one  interest ;  that  is  to  say,  to  have  the  whole  outlay 
for  ships  and  cargoes  provided  for  by  one  and  the  same  house, 
and  to  require  of  that  house  one-third  of  its  net  profit  as  a  pre- 
mium for  the  use  of  the  license.  Should  one  cargo  be  lost  or 
captured,  of  course  there  would  be  no  premium  to  pay  on  the 
license. 

It  was  the  house  of  Messrs.  Robert  and  John  Oliver,  two  hon- 
orable Irish  gentlemen,  who  had  settled  in  Baltimore,  and  already 
possessed  considerable  capital  there,  who,  jointly  with  their 
brother-in-law,  James  Craig,  of  Philadelphia,  first  undertook  this 
enterprise.  It  was  also  stipulated,  that  should  these  vessels  be 
used  for  the  transportation  of  silver  coin,  not  representing  the 
results  of  the  cargoes  sent  out,  the  shipper  should  be  entitled  to  a 


OUVRARD  AND  CHARLES  IV.  97 

freight  of  five  per  cent,  on  the  amount  embarked.  The  whole 
combination  was  excellent;  but  before  the  house  in  Baltimore  had 
concluded  a  definite  contract  with  Mr.  David  Parish,  there  was  yet 
another  matter  of  anxiety  to  be  decided  ;  this  was,  to  accurately 
know  to  what  we  would  be  bound  on  either  side,  in  case  that, 
notwithstanding  the  assured  exemption  of  the  cargoes  from  the 
generally  heavy  duties  in  Mexico,  unexpected  demands  should 
suddenly  be  made  upon  us  by  that  Government,  and  ail  at  once 
lifted  from  the  two  or  three  cargoes  which  might  then  be  lying  in 
the  port  of  Vera  Cruz.  The  Messrs.  Oliver  desired  the  guaranty 
of  Mr.  David  Parish  against  the  consequences  of  such  an  event- 
uality. 

It  had  been  fully  understood  between  Ouvrard  and  his  partner, 
Charles  IV.,  or  rather  the  latter's  Ministry,  that  there  should  be 
no  duties  to  pay  in  Mexico.  But  the  Messrs.  Oliver,  like  prudent 
merchants,  desired  to  have  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  length 
and  breadth  of  their  obligations,  and  thus  Mr.  Parish  had  to  de- 
vise some  means  of  giving  them  this  guaranty,  before  the  scheme 
could  be  set  in  motion.  He  undertook  it  for  a  consideration  of 
twenty  per  cent.,  which  was  to  be  deducted  from  the  calculation 
made  in  Philadelphia,  of  the  rough  profits  on  the  cargoes  sold 
in  Vera  Cruz,  and  was  then  to  be  paid  over  or  made  good  to 
Parish. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  the  United  States  he  had  explained  the 
nature  of  his  mission  to  the  oldest  and  best  correspondents  of  the 
two  firms  of  Hope  &  Baring,  such  men,  namely,  as  Willing  & 
Francis,  in  Philadelphia,  Robert  Gilmore  &  Sons,  in  Baltimore. 
James  &  Thomas  H.  Perkins,  in  Boston,  and  had  expressed  a 
desire  for  their  participation  in  the  business.  Partly  through  his 
not  understanding  it,  and  partly  because  he  had  not  the  sufficient 
disposable  means,  he  was  unable  to  carry  on  so  vast  an  under- 
taking alone.  After  the  extraordinary  success  of  Messrs.  Oliver 
had  been  witnessed  in  Baltimore,  for  some  eight  or  ten  months, 
there  was  no  longer  any  lack  of  parties,  either,  to  take  out  the 
licenses ;  and  Parish  was  thus  placed  in  a  situation  to  conclude 
similar  arrangements  with  Isaac  McKimm,  James  Tenant,  and 
John  O'Donnell,  in  Baltimore,  and  also  to  transfer  a  couple  of 

5 


98  DAVID  PARISH  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

the  licenses  in  the  house  of  Archibald  Gracie  &  Sons,  in  New 
York,  who  had  less  means  than  the  others,  but  possessed  excellent 
credit.  The  agent  in  Vera  Cruz,  my  friend  A.  P.  Lestapis,  had 
started  there  under  the  name  of  Jose  Gabriel  de  Villanueva.  He 
had  formerly  served  in  the  counting-house  of  Mr.  Juan  Plante,  in 
Santander,  and  at  the  death  of  his  colleague,  a  Spaniard,  named 
Villanueva,  who  was  of  the  same  age,  and  resembled  him  both  in 
face  and  figure,  the  latter's  certificate  of  birth  and  other  papers 
had  fallen  into  his  hands. 

Mr.  Labouchere,  in  Amsterdam,  who  thoroughly  understood 
and  feared  the  evil  consequences,  or  at  least  great  difficulties,  that 
would  attend  the  appearance  of  a  Frenchman  in  Mexico,  as  a  com- 
mercial agent,  and  thought  that  all  these  would  be  avoided  by  the 
employment  of  a  Spaniard  in  the  Spanish  interest,  and  that  by  this 
means  one  might  go  on,  and  even  empty  the  Mexican  Treasury, 
without  being  disturbed,  occasioned  this  change  of  name,  and 
directed  my  friend's  appearance  under  the  borrowed  title.  The 
secret  of  this  change  was  intrusted  to  only  one  person,  a  lady  in 
Vera  Cruz.  Lestapis  fell  in  love  with  an  extremely  charming 
young  girl,  a  Miss  Manuelita  de  Garay,  and  married  her  under 
the  name  of  Villanueva,  at  the  same  time  promising  that  he  would 
repeat  the  ceremony,  somewhere  outside  of  Mexico,  under  the 
name  of  Lestapis.  This  promise  was  redeemed  two  years  after- 
wards in  Philadelphia. 

Villanueva  had  intrusted  two  houses  in  Vera  Cruz  with  the  sale 
of  the  cargoes  sent  to  him,  three-fourths  of  them  to  the  most  re- 
spectable and  wealthiest  of  these  firms,  Pedro  Miguel  de  Echever- 
ria,  and  the  remaining  fourth  to  the  less  considerable  establish- 
ment of  Francisco  Luis  de  Septien,  under  an  agreement  to  make 
good  the  half  of  the  commission  calculated  thereupon  at  five  per 
cent.  The  best  guage,  by  which  to  estimate  the  whole  profits  of 
the  cargoes  sent  to  Vera  Cruz,  is  afforded  by  the  sum  representing 
the  half  of  this  commission,  which  amounted  to  $280,000.  The 
whole  of  it  ran  up  to  the  560,000  piastres,  and  the  net  value  of 
the  imported  cargoes  was  consequently  $11,200,000  ;  as  there  was 
neither  freightage  nor  duties,  all  that  remained  to  be  deducted  from 
them  was  embraced  in  the  commission,  and  some  trifling  local 


OUVRARD  IN  SPAIN.  .     09 

expenses.  In  addition  to  the  proceeds  of  the  goods  sold,  the  clip- 
pers, on  their  return  from  Vera  Cruz,  each  time  brought  with 
them  from  $100,000  to  $200,000,  on  account  of  the  Bills  of  Ex- 
change or  Libranzas  there  presented,  which,  including  the  moneys 
received  by  me  in  New  Orleans,  amounted  to  about  15,000,000 
Spanish  dollars. 

I  must  now  return  once  more  to  Ouvrard,  from  whom  the 
reader  parted  when  he  made  his  last  journey  to  Madrid.  One 
would  have  supposed  that  Ouvrard's  appetite  for  colossal  under- 
takings  would  have  been  gratified,  by  this  time,  to  satiety.  But 
such  was  by  no  means  the  case.  Directly  after  his  return  to 
Madrid  he  received,  through  his  friend  and  patron  Godoy,  a  con- 
tract for  ten  years,  by  which  the  products  of  all  the  lead  and 
quicksilver  mines  of  Spain  were  transferred  to  him,  at  the  average 
prices  of  the  last  ten  years  ;  and  to  this  was  added  the  privilege 
of  supplying  the  government  with  all  the  tobacco  it  required. 

In  regular  proportion  to  the  successive  and  rapid  arrivals  of 
Spanish  dollars  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States,  Ouvrard  re- 
ceived their  equivalent  through  the  house  of  Hope  &  Co.,  in  Am- 
sterdam, at  the  stipulated  rates,  and  this  enabled  him,  not  only  to 
render  the  Spanish  monarchy  the  service  of  making  the  immense 
resources  it  possessed  beyond  the  seas  available,  but  also  to  put 
it  in  a  position  to  discharge  with  facility  the  yearly  subsidy  it  owed 
to  France.  It  does  not  require  any  extraordinary  talent  for  cal- 
culation to  perceive,  that  this  likewise  placed  the  keys  of  the 
Spanish  Treasury  in  Napoleon's  hands,  and  that  he  could  retain 
them  in  his  possession  so  long  as  he  saw  fit.  He  thus  had  indirect 
control  of  the  means  which  his  war  with  England,  and  the  watch- 
fulness of  her  fleets,  had  hitherto  made  inaccessible  to  him.  This, 
as  I  have  already  remarked,  is  plain  enough  to  the  most  limited 
intelligence,  and  the  eyes  of  the  French  Minister  in  Madrid  were 
at  length  opened  to  the  fact  by  Ouvrard's  representations.  His  re- 
ports had  produced  their  effect  upon  the  Minister  Public  of  Finance, 
who  had  persuaded  himself  that  Ouvrard  was  the  most  influential 
man  in  Spain ;  and  the  truth  came  flowing  in  from  every  reliable 
quarter  so  incontestably  clear,  that  any  misapprehension  of  it  was 
almost  impossible.     And  yet,  can  it  be  credited,  that  the  greatest 


100  .  DAVID  PARISH  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

intellect,  the  mightiest  genius  of  the  age,  was  guilty  of  precisely 
this  misconception  !  Yet  so  it  happened.  I  have  already  alluded 
to  his  dislike  of  everything  mercantile,  or  belonging  to  mercantile 
pursuits,  or  carried  on  in  a  mercantile  way  ;  and  this  it  was  which, 
united  to  a  blind  personal  hatred  to  Ouvrard  and  his  altered  pol- 
icy in  relation  to  Spain,  sufficed  to  overthrow  the  most  magnifi- 
cent structure  that  ever  the  spirit  of  mercantile  enterprise  had 
begun  to  erect  for  the  benefit  of  both  kingdoms,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  deprive  the  Emperor  himself  of  the  richest-  sources  of  Span- 
ish opulence,  by  closing  against  him  the  influx  of  silver  from  New 
Spain. 

There  is  but  one  thing  that  offers  an  excuse  for  Napoleon's  mis- 
take in  this  matter  ;  it  consists  in  the  confusion  of  French  financial 
affairs  at  that  time,  the  enormous  requirements  of  his  vast  armies, 
and  the  unavoidable  operations  thence  arising.  He  did,  indeed, 
succeed  for  a  while  in  raising  the  necessary  sums  from  the  taxa- 
tion and  unlimited  contributions  of  the  regions  he  conquered,  and 
in  living,  to  use  the  proper  phrase,  at  the  expense  of  others  ;  but 
in  the  long  run  these  levies  finally  overstepped  all  bounds,  pro- 
duced a  diseased  condition  of  financial  affairs,  and  at  the  same 
time  revolted  the  countries  subjected  to  them.  Then,  again,  the 
colossal  nature  of  Ouvrard's  already  undertaken  and  projected 
enterprises  required  a  spirit  of  order,  method,  and  extreme  watch- 
fulness, as  well  as  a  number  of  faithful  and  capable  agents,  &c, 
such  as  Ouvrard  neither  had  at  his  command,  nor  could  find  in 
sufficient  number.  Accustomed  to  deal  lightly  with  millions,  he 
was,  undoubtedly,  often  in  a  condition  to  make  his  calculations 
general,  and  to  arrange  means  of  carrying  out  his  plans  as  a 
whole,  which  were  by  no  means  deficient  in  quick  and  ready  effi- 
ciency :  but  the  moment  his  schemes  were  about  to  become  living 
realities,  the  gift  of  clearly  comprehending  the  requisite  measures 
to  be  taken,  prudence  in  making  the  final  step,  and  perseverance 
in  conducting  his  efforts  to  a  decisive  issue,  were  lacking.  Thus 
the  door  stood  open  to  all  kinds  of  mismanagement,  embezzle- 
ment, and  roguery,  which  did  not  tarry  in  making  themselves  ap- 
parent first  by  an  unusual  crisis  of  the  Bank  at  Paris.  The 
banker  Duprez,  who,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  taken  Ouvrard's 


BANK  OF  FRANCE.  101 

place  in  his  engagements  with  the public^ Treasury^  an#  held  the 
obligations  of  the  public  Recei vers-General,. which. fejl  £ue  period- 
ically, had,  through  the  circulars  <fptt  $£  th;em  Jby  the  7ylji/ifeier  of 
Finance,  requested  them  to  forward  him  all  moneys  at  their  dis- 
position, for  an  interest  equivalent  of  at  least  <^gfit  per  cent.  In 
this  way  vast  capital  flowed  into  his  hands,  of  which,  as  currently 
reported,  he  lent,  chiefly  through  vanity,  something  like  fifty  mil- 
lions to  needy  commercial  houses,  and  soon  afterwards  involved  him- 
self in  embarrassment  thereby.  To  help  himself  out  of  trouble  he 
had  transferred  the  bonds  of  the  Receivers-General  to  the  Bank 
of  France,  and  received  advances  upon  them.  Thus,  when,  shortly 
afterwards,  the  Bank  was  disquieted  by  a  sudden  demand  for  the 
redemption  of  a  large  part  of  its  notes,  and  turned  itself  for  relief 
to  the  Beceveurs,  with  a  request  that  they  would  come  to  its  aid, 
and  make  payments  on  account,  it  transpired  that  Duprez  had 
already  received  the  larger  part  of  the  moneys  arising  upon  them, 
and  nothing  remained  but  a  direct  application  to  him  for  the  dis- 
charge of  his  obligations  at  the  Bank.  Duprez,  who  was  not  so 
situated  that  he  could  compromise  this  piece  of  deception,  found 
himself  compelled  to  lay  the  whole  condition  of  his  pecuniary 
affairs  before  the  eyes  of  the  Bank  Directors.  In  consequence  of 
this  business,  which  soon  became  known,  and  the  ill-concealed 
anxiety  of  the  Directors  themselves,  the  Bank  suddenly  fell  into 
discredit ;  everybody  wanted  his  notes  cashed,  and,  to  the  uni- 
versal alarm  of  the  community,  the  Bank  had  to  suspend  its  specie 
payments. 

It  was  on  the  day  after  the  battle  of  Austerlitz  that  this  intel- 
gence  reached  Napoleon.  In  something  less  than  a  fortnight  after 
this  occurrence  the  Minister  Barbe-Marbois  had  endeavored  to 
remedy  the  first  embarrassment  of  the  State  Treasury,  by  dis- 
patching a  courier  to  Madrid,  with  a  request  for  Ouvrard  to  im- 
mediately send  him  the  half  of  the  first  payment  of  bills  for 
twenty  millions  made  by  the  Spanish  Government,  that  is  to  say, 
the  sum  of  ten  millions,  and  give  him  the  full  and  free  disposal  of 
the  same.  Ouvrard  had  so  much  confidence  in  the  uprightness 
of  the  Minister,  that  he  at  once  sent  him  the  bills  for  ten  millions 
of  piastres,  without  deduction.    Directly  afterwards  there  appeared 


102  DAVID  PARISH  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

in  Madrid  an  ugent  of  the  Minister,  called  Wante,  with  a  ministe- 
rial  order  addressed  to,  Ouvrard,  in  which  the  latter  was  required 
to  sumsi&er  ec^h  i^vl  ewry  st-e^ies  of  Spanish  values  into  the  hands 
of  the  bearer,  and  thereupon  to  return  without  further  delay  to 
Paris.  A  few  days  later  Ouvrard  received  complete  information 
concerning  the  Paris  Bank  crisis  above-mentioned.  Wante  had 
expressed  a  wish  to  be  presented  to  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and  Ouv- 
rard had  instantly  satisfied  his  desire.  Soler,  the  Minister  of 
Finance,  who  happened  to  be  present,  turned  to  Wante  with  the 
words,  "  Monsieur,  if  anything  has  remained  undone,  you  must 
look  to  Mr.  Ouvrard  for  it ;  he  has  not  asked  it,  since  I  have  re- 
ceived full  orders  to  grant  him  everything."  Wante  comprehended 
in  a  moment  the  credit  Ouvrard  enjoyed,  and  saw  that  the  French 
Ministry  might  and  should  repose  implicit  confidence  in  him  :  so, 
after  regularly  informing  himself  in  relation  to  Ouvrard's  general 
position,  he  deemed  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  return  to  Paris, 
after  having  first  congratulated  Ouvrard  upon  the  influence  he  had 
gained. 

On  the  day  after  his  departure  Godoy  learned,  through  his  pri- 
vate correspondence,  that  he  would,  most  probably,  within  a  few 
days,  be  desired  to  arrest  Ouvrard  without  further  ceremony,  and 
forward  him  to  Paris.  Filled  with  sympathy,  the  Prince  exhibited 
this  letter  to  his  friend  Ouvrard,  and  advised  him  to  depart  at 
once  to  America,  and  there  await  the  upshot  of  these  erroneous 
views  entertained  by  the  French  government ;  a  frigate  was  at 
his  disposal  for  this  purpose.  But  Ouvrard  responded  that  he 
needed  no  frigate  to  take  him  to  America,  but  only  a  sufficient 
escort  to  Bayonne,  whence  he  would  pursue  the  most  direct  route 
to  Paris. 

Napoleon,  who  had  won  the  reward  of  his  victorious  campaign 
against  Austria  at  the  peace  of  Presburg,  and  had  reached  Paris 
on  his  return  by  the  26th  of  January,  1806,  the  next  evening 
summoned  into  his  presence  Messrs.  Ouvrard,  Vanlerberghe,  and 
Desprez  (whom  Thiers,  in  the  sixth  volume  of  his  History  of  the 
Empire,  styles,  on  his  own  authority,  the  "  assembled  merchants 
les  negocians  reunis").  Ouvrard,  however,  did  not  get  the  mes- 
sage sent  to  him,  and   consequently   only  the  other  two  were 


NAPOLEON  AND  OUVRARD.  103 

present.  They  were  so  overwhelmed  by  the  first  outburst  of  the 
Emperor's  wrath,  that  Thiers  feels  himself  called  upon  to  say 
that  they  shed  hot  tears.  Napoleon  had  required  the  Arch-Chan- 
cellor Cambaceres  to  acquaint  him  with  the  whole  nature  of  the 
entanglement  that  had  arisen  between  the  three  named  gentlemen, 
the  public  Treasury  and  the  Bank  of  France.  But  who  was  pre- 
pared to  evolve  light  from  such  a  chaos,  unless  it  were  Ouvrard 
himself?  Napoleon,  who  could  not  even  hear  that  name  without 
an  ebullition  of  the  most  intense  anger,  was  at  first  disposed  to 
have  all  three  incarcerated  at  Vincennes,  but  finally  listened  to 
Cambaceres,  who  advised  him  to  save  as  much  as  possible  from 
this  unintentional  wreck,  and,  with  that  intent,  to  take  possession 
of  all  their  papers,  money,  and  effects.  His  resolution  was 
already  fixed,  when  he  summoned  the  State  Council  together  to 
consult  in  relation  to  the  form,  and  Barbe  Marbois  had  begun  to 
read  a  complete  report  concerning  the  affair,  when  his  very  first 
words  were  interrupted  by  Napoleon's  declaration,  that  he  knew 
perfectly  well  what  he  had  to  do.  "  If,"  said  the  Emperor,  "  these 
men  do  not  give  up  to  me  everything  they  own,  and  Spain  does 
not  pay  me  all  she  owes,  I  will  send  them  to  Vincennes,  and  an 
army  to  Madrid."  However,  Napoleon  decided  to  hear  what  Ouv- 
rard had  to  say,  and  to  that  end  again  summoned  him  on  February 
6th.  Scarcely  had  the  latter  uttered  a  couple  of  words,  after 
making  his  appearance  in  the  room  of  audience,  when  the  Em- 
peror called  his  State  Secretary  to  him,  and  said,  "  Mr.  Maret, 
read  my  decree  to  this  gentleman  !"  By  the  decree  referred  to, 
the  three  partners  were  declared  to  be  indebted  to  the  State  in 
the  sum  of  87,000,000  francs,  and  bound  in  obligations  of  various 
kinds,  which  were  then,  on  Ouvrard's  account,  partly  in  the  hands 
of  Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.,  and  partly  in  the  State  Treasury,  to  pay 
the  total  sum  of  69,000,000,.  and  give  their  own  notes  for  the  re- 
maining 18,000,000.  When  this  decree  had  been  read  aloud,  the 
Emperor  broke  out  upon  Ouvrard,  and  asked  what  security  he 
could  give  for  the  payment  of  this  sum.  The  reply  was  that  the 
whole  amount  should  be  paid,  if  the  management  of  his  own  affairs 
were  left  in.  his  (Ouvrard's)  hands.  "  Now,  then,"  said  Napoleon, 
"  I  count  upon  that.     I  will  substitute  another  decree  for  this  one-, 


104  NAPOLEON  AND  OUVRARD. 

by  which  all  that  you  have  in  the  hands  of  Hope  &  Co.  shall  re- 
main under  my  direction."  Ouvrard  replied  that  no  other  result 
could  be  expected  from  these  measures,  than  that  England  would 
put  a  stop  to  the  exportation  of  silver  dollars  from  Mexico,  and 
that  Spain  herself  would  withdraw  from  her  agreements.  This 
second  decree,  published  February  18th,  directed  that  each  and 
every  bill  drawn  by  Ouvrard  on  the  Cashier  of  the  Consolidation 
Fund,  Don  Manuel  Sirto  Espinosa,  at  Madrid,  and  accepted  by 
the  latter,  as  detailed  in  the  provisional  agreement,  made  and  con- 
cluded in  the  interim,  on  the  18th  of  November,  1805,  should  be 
withdrawn  from  the  hands  of  the  holders,  and  transferred  to  the 
French  State  Treasury,  viz.,  the  amount  of  7,260,849  piastres, 
which  Messrs.  Leguin  and  Michael  Jeune,  in  Paris,  sub-contractors 
of  Ouvrard  and  his  associates,  then  held  as  guaranties.  This,  it 
furthermore  intimated,  must  be  delivered  back  within  the  space 
of  twenty-four  hours. 

A  courier,  who  was  dispatched  to  Madrid  the  very  next  morn- 
ing, took  the  Spanish  Government  word  that  this  decree  had  been 
made  public,  and  that  Spain  was  released  from  her  engagement 
with  Ouvrard.  The  latter  was  thus  shut  out  from  all  activity,  and 
learned,  a  short  time  afterwards,  through  an  official  announcement 
in  the  Moniteur,  that  not  87,000,000  but  141,000,000  was  the 
amount  for  which  he  and  his  associates  had  to  figure  as  debtors  to 
the  State.  Ouvrard  and  Vanlerberghe  succeeded  in  liquidating 
this  enormous  liability  ;  but  a  host  of  other  creditors  were  press- 
ing their  claims,  and  so  embarrassed  the  further  arrangement  of 
their  business,  that  on  the  31st  of  December,  1807,  they  were 
obliged  at  length  to  hand  in  their  declaration  of  insolvency  to  the 
Tribunal  of  Commerce,  at  Paris. 

In  regard  to  the  moneys,  bills,  and  other  values  in  the  hands  of 
Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.,  Napoleon  had  reckoned  without  his  host. 
This  powerful  House,  which  then  stood  at  the  head  of  the  mercantile 
order  throughout  the  world,  and,  in  Holland  not  only  felt  itself  perfect- 
ly independent,  but  considered  itself  equal  in  financial  matters  to  any 
potentate  on  earth,  and  entitled  to  occupy  a  similar  footing  with 
them,  could  not  recognize  that  it  was  in  any  manner  bound  by  the 
imperial  decree.     Yet  Napoleon  was  weak  enough  to  think  differ 


MESSRS.  HOPE  &  CO.  105 

ently.  He  had  dictated  a  letter,  addressed  to  Messrs.  Hope  & 
Co.,  in  the  hand-writing  of  Mollien,  the  successor  of  Barbe  Mar- 
bois,  who  had  been  removed.  This  missive,  couched  in  the  lan- 
guage of  a  master  to  his  servant,  contained  the  following  words  : 
"  You  have  made  enough  money  in  the  Louisiana  business  to 
leave  me  no  room  to  doubt  that  you  will,  without  reservation, 
comply  with  any  order  I  may  see  fit  to  make."  He  then  sent 
this  letter,  without  Ouvrard's  consent,  by  an  Inspector  of  Finance, 
to  Amsterdam.  However,  the  Finance  Inspector  was  very  coolly 
received,  and  had  to  come  back  without  accomplishing  anything. 
Soon  afterwards  Napoleon  thought  it  advisable  to  send  the  Baron 
Louis — afterwards  Louis  Philippe's  first  Minister  of  Finance — to 
Holland  to  explore  the  ground,  and  discover  what  resources  Ouv- 
rard  might  have  there.  Baron  Louis  presented  himself  to  the 
Messrs.  Hope,  and  disclosed  the  object  of  his  visit.  Mr.  Labou- 
chere,  who  received  him,  at  once  replied :  "  Whether  we  have 
money  in  our  hands  for  Mr.  Ouvrard,  or  not,  Baron,  is  not  a  mat- 
ter for  which  we  are  obliged  to  render  any  account  to  you  ;  and 
the  inappropriateness  of  your  present  visit  must  have  been  appa 
rent  to  yourself!" 

This  anecdote,  related  by  Ouvrard  himself,  I  can  offer  as  simple 
truth,  for  I  have  likewise  heard  it  repeated  frequently  by  Mr.  La- 
bouchere  also,  who  could  not  suppress  a  feeling  of  inward  pride, 
whenever  he  got  an  opportunity,  to  illustrate  his  entire  indepen- 
dence of  the  man,  at  whose  feet  all  Europe  bent  the  knee.  He 
considered  Napoleon  the  greatest  tyrant  the  world  had  ever  seen, 
but  was  ever  ready  to  defend  him  against  any  charge  of  blood- 
thirstiness,  an  accusation  which,  like  many  others  in  that  time,  and 
amid  the  general  exasperation  of  the  fiercest  passions,  was  con- 
stantly repeated.  "  A  taste  for  blood,"  he  used  often  to  say, 
"  was  not  a  trait  of  Napoleon ;  but,  as  a  means  to  an  end,  he  was 
as  ready  to  lay  his  hands  upon  it  as  upon  any  other  that  chanced 
to  be  within  reach." 

The  miscalculation  made  by  Napoleon,  in  imagining  that  the 
Spanish  bills  on  Mexico  would  be  just  as  good  values  in  his  hands 
as  in  those  of  Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.,  was  not  long  in  making  itself 
evident.     In  the  first  place,  there  were,  nowhere  on  the  continent, 

5* 


106  DAVID  PARISH  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

capitalists  to  be  found,  whose  means  were  so  immense  as  the  re- 
sources controlled  by  Messrs.  Hope,  who  were  able  to  invest  a 
portion  of  their  vast  funds  in  the  purchase  of  such  State  paper,  for 
the  eventual  payment  of  the  same  had  to  take  -place  in  another 
quarter  of  the  globe.  They  were,  moreover,  of  a  doubtful  na- 
ture, and,  finally,  the  definitive  realization  of  the  proceeds  was,  in 
any  event,  remote,  and  could  not  be  transformed  into  anything 
directly  accessible.  Secondly,  Messrs.  Hope,  through  their  close 
relations  with  the  Barings — Mr.  Labouchere  himself  the  son-in- 
law  of  the  eldest  head  of  that  house,  Sir  Francis  Baring,  and  the 
latter,  again,  the  intimate  friend  of  the  then  Marquis  of  Lansdowne, 
formerly  Viscount  Shelbourne,  and  of  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley — 
was  perhaps  the  only  firm  in  a  position  to  convince  the  Pitt  min- 
istry, that  the  importation  of  piastres  from  Mexico  was  a  whole- 
some transaction  for  British  commerce,  and  for  the  East  India 
Company,  and  to  persuade  them  that  in  their  eyes  alone  could 
these  values  have  a  nominal  worth,  and  that  they  alone  could  im- 
part it  to  them.  Count  Mollien,  the  French  Minister  of  Finance 
to  whom  the  bills  and  papers  wrested  from  Ouvrard  had  been 
transferred,  was  not  long  in  making  this  discovery.  Perfectly 
understanding,  as  he  may  have  done  readily  enough,  what  course 
the  Messrs.  Hope  took  with  their  drafts  and  notes  of  the  same 
kind,  he  probably  conceived  that  he  had  nothing  more  to  do  than 
to  send  them  to  Mr.  Felix  de  Beaujour,  the  Consul-General  a: 
Philadelphia,  for  negotiation. 

When  the  latter  received  these  bills  he  was  thrown  into  great 
perplexity.  He  had  felt  the  pulse  of  some  of  the  more  important 
French  houses  in  Philadelphia,  such  as  that  of  Stephen  Girard, 
L.  Clapier,  and  others.  No  one  would  have  anything  to  do  with 
the  doubtful  bills,  and  there  was  no  means  at  hand  of  presenting 
them  in  Mexico.  Some  small  sums  might  have  been  got  to- 
gether, but  when  the  object  consisted  of  millions,  to  what  pur- 
pose were  such  negotiations?  Hence,  De  Beaujour  was  com- 
pelled to  make  application  to  Parish  for  his  advice.  It  was  to 
have  been  foreseen,  that  from  this  a  negotiation,  and  finally  a  con- 
tract, must  arise  between  these  two  men.  The  nature  of  the 
transaction  has  ever  remained  a  secret  between  them.     For  when, 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  107 

in  the  winter  of  1808-'09,  I  was  busied  with  the  first  provisional 
winding  up  of  our  heavy  operations,  I  could  not  find  the  slightest 
trace  of  the  business  in  the  correspondence,  nor  the  copy-books, 
nor  in  the  current  account-book  of  Mr.  Parish — the  only  books 
that  I  saw.  There  was  neither  any  stipulation  of  conditions,  nor 
sums  to  be  paid.  The  piastres  arrived  from  time  to  time  in  the 
usual  schooners,  and  were  at  once  delivered  to  M.  de  Beaujour. 
One  thing,  however,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  certainly  knowing, 
namely,  that  the  sum  total  of  the  bills  drawn  by  the  French  Con- 
sul did  not  exceed  2,000,000  piastres.  Some  of  the  bills  violently 
taken  from  Ouvrard,  again  found  their  way  into  the  hands  of 
Messrs.  Hope. 

Upon  the  occasion  of  Ouvrard's  subsequently  making  over,  of 
his  own  accord,  all  his  assets,  in  Spain  as  well  as  in  the  hands  of 
Messrs.  Hope,  to  the  Public  Treasury,  (Tre&or  Public)  the  latter 
saw  itself  unavoidably  compelled  to  come  to  an  understanding 
with  that  firm.  Count  Mollien  was  too  shrewd  a  business-man 
not  to  perceive  the  necessity  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  advantage, 
of  an  amicable  arrangement  with  the  Hopes,  especially  as  the 
power  of  Napoleon  was  held  at  bay  by  the  moral  independence 
of  the  great  mercantile  house ;  and  as  there  was  a  possibility  of 
procuring  from  the  latter  what  M.  de  Beaujour  had  neither  the 
means  nor  the  influence  to  obtain — that  is  to  say,  advances  on 
account,  Had  not  Napoleon's  violent  and  arbitrary  dissolution 
of  the  close  relations  existing  between  Ouvrard  and  the  Spanish 
Court  cut  off  the  first  productive  moneyed  resources  of  the  Spanish 
Crown,  the  silver  mines  of  Mexico  would,  after  the  unavoidable 
delay  of  a  few  months,  perhaps  of  a  single  year,  required  to  com- 
plete the  necessary  preparation,  have  long  been  made  tributary 
to  the  treasury  of  France.  What  afterwards  occurred,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  forced  abdication  of  Charles  IV.  and  his  next  heir  to 
the  throne,  at  Bayonne,  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the 
mother  country  would  have  brought  about.  The  military  supre- 
macy of  Napoleon  had  found  its  natural  limits  in  America,  and 
the  commands  of  the  new  monarch  imposed  upon  Spain  were 
totally  disregarded.  It  is  impossible  to  read  the  exposition  of 
Quvrard's  relations  and  entanglements,  given  by  Thiers  in  the 


108  G.  J.  OUVRARD. 

22d  and  24th  chapters  of  his  Sixth  Volume,  without  being  con- 
vinced that  the  author's  aim  has  constantly  been  to  make  his  hero 
appear  as  blameless  as  possible  in  that  whole  affair ;  for  by  the 
exercise  of  the  least  degree  of  unprejudiced  judgment,  in  regard 
to  the  entire  course  pursued,  from  the  time  of  Napoleon's  return 
after  the  Peace  of  Presburg,  he  must  have  perceived  that  if,  as 
he  affirms,  the  colossal  schemes  and  combinations  of  Ouvrard  had 
brought  great  embarrassment  jipon  the  French  Treasury,  and 
especially  on  the  Bank,  that  circumstance  was  chiefly  ascribable 
to  the  insufficiency  of  the  united  revenues  of  the  French  and  Span- 
ish governments  to  supply  their  own  State  necessities  and  the 
enormous  expenses  of  Napoleon's  military  operations.  Both 
countries  were  forbidden  all  commerce  by  sea,  and  as  export  trade 
was  thus  rendered  impossible,  their  ready  money  had  to  go 
abroad,  to  pay  the  indispensable  demands  for  colonial  and  other 
goods.  Spain  had  been  compelled  to  declare  war  against  Eng- 
land, and  then  to  assume  an  obligation  to  pay  during  the  continu- 
ance of  that  war  an  annual  subsidy  of  72,000,000  of  francs,  and 
that  exactly  at  a  time  when  the  existing  hostilities  had  cut  off  the 
usual  supplies  of  ready  money  flowing  in  to  her  from  her  Ameri- 
can Colonies.  Ouvrard  was  useful,  nay,  almost  indispensable  to 
Napoleon,  as  an  inventive  head  who  could  instantly  find  millions 
to  satisfy  the  Emperor's  necessities  and  whims — farther  than  this 
he  either  would  not,  or  did  not  see.  As  it  was  part  of  his  policy 
to  retake  from  the  so  called  pilferers  of  the  public  income — he 
looked  on  Ouvrard  as  such — what  they  might  have  succeeded  in 
getting  by  dishonest  management  in  spite  of  him,  it  was  a  matter 
of  no  concern  what  means  Ouvrard  might  employ  in  procuring 
the  money  he  so  constantly  required.  Yet  no  very  great  insight 
or  talent  for  computation  was  needed  to  arrive  at  the  result,  that 
if  the  directly  available  means  of  France  were  insufficient  to  meet 
the  usual  State  expenses  and  Bonaparte's  inordinate  demands,  and 
that  if  Spain  was  despoiled  of  the  only  resource  by  which  she 
could  pretend  to  discharge  her  debt,  and  loans  furthermore  ren- 
dered impossible,  through  the  want  of  confidence  felt  by  all  foreign 
capitalists,  neither  an  Ouvrard  nor  any  one  else  could  stop  the 
leakage  daily  and  incessantly  made  by  Napoleon,  It  was,  then, 
necessary  to  bear  upon  the  natural  revenues  of  State  beforehand, 


G.  J.  OUVRARD.  109 

by  turning  into  money,  a  long  time  previously  to  their  falling 
due,  the  notes  of  the  Receivers  General,  which  the  Bank  continued 
to  discount.  So  long  as  the  public  was  willing  to  receive  the 
bank-notes  emitted  instead  of  money,  this  foolish  system  might  be 
protracted,  but  the  first  rumor  of  discredit  must  inevitably  over- 
throw the  frail  structure,  notwithstanding  all  Ouvrard's  combina- 
tions. This  fact  could  not  escape  the  eye  of  any  well-informed 
person,  and  hence  Thiers  himself,  in  spite  of  his  efforts  to  make 
Napoleon  appear  as  free  from  blame  as  possible,  finally  makes 
the  following  confession,  with  evident  unwillingness  :  "  It  must, 
however,  for  the  sake  of  justice  be  admitted,  that  to  the  Emperor 
himself  a  great  portion" — (I  would  say  the  greatest  portion) — "of 
the  blame  must  be  ascribed  which  this  circumstance  deserves; 
since  he,  with  great  obstinacy  and  for  much  too  long  a  time,  allowed 
the  weight  of  these  enormous  burdens  to  rest  upon  the  feeble 
exertions  of  M.  de  Marbois,  without  troubling  himself  about  pro- 
viding for  the  extraordinary  means  these  circumstances  demanded." 
The  removal  of  M.  de  Marbois,  the  arbitrary  measures  employed 
with  Ouvrard  and  his  associates,  the  anathema  he  fulminated 
against  them,  will  not  serve  him  before  the  eyes  of  posterity  to 
cloak  the  want  of  those  qualities,  which  as  a  ruler  he  should  have 
possessed,  and  which  were  indispensable  in  controlling  the  general 
interests  of  state.  These  qualities  consisted  in  a  sound  apprecia- 
tion of  his  financial  relations,  and  unswerving,  constant  watchful- 
ness in  regard  to  the  changes  arising  in  the  circumstances  that 
surrounded  them.  It  was  the  balance  of  his  finances  that  Napo- 
leon usually  neglected,  in  his  calculations. 

I  have  been  necessarily  obliged  to  make  this,  perhaps,  too 
lengthy  digression — which  also  lies  far  from  the  aim  of  these 
memoirs — because  Ouvrard,  as  the  real  originator  of  national  cre- 
dit in  France,  as  the  result  will  show,  rendered  great  and  incon- 
testible  service  to  his  country  ;  and  yet,  instead  of  being  rated  as 
a  man  of  genius,  he  is  usually  regarded  as  an  adventurer.  It  is 
beyond  a  doubt,  that  the  circumstances  under  which  he  was 
destined  to  develop  this  genius  and  the  activity  of  his  mind, 
were  among  the  most  extraordinary  which  the  world  has  yet 
seen,  and  that  the  possibility  of  their  return  could  now  scarcely 
be  admitted, 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FORCED  ABANDONMENT  OF  VERY  IMPORTANT  OPERATIONS. 

My  return  to  Philadelphia — Acquaintance  with  Robert  Fulton  at  New  York 
— A  glance  at  his  history — The  trial-trip  of  the  first  steamboat  Clermont 
from  New  York  for  Albany — Departure  for  Havana,  to  call  in  the  govern- 
ment-exchange of  *700,000  piastres — Negotiation  with  the  Intendant-Gene- 
ral  Roubaud — Exchange  of  these  bills  for  a  single  one  drawn  to  my  order, 
and  a  bill  for  945,000  dollars  on  the  viceroy  of  Mexico  given  me, — the 
largest  in  amount  I  ever  indorsed — I  take  passage  from  Havana  in  the 
schooner  "  Merchant,"  bound  for  Baltimore. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1807  when  we,  Lestapis  in  Mexico 
and  I  in  New  Orleans,  received  the  first  intimation  from  Parish  in 
Philadelphia,  that  the  existing  condition  of  things  would  bring  us 
rapidly  nearer  the  termination  of  our  agencies,  which  had  at  first 
been  counted  upon  for  years.  So  far  as  I  in  particular  was  con- 
cerned, there  was  no  necessity  for  my  remaining  in  New  Orleans 
longer  than  the  settlement  of  my  affairs  in  that  city  required,  that 
is  to  say,  about  one  month.  The  arrangements  made  by  Parish 
with  Oliver  and  Brothers,  led  to  natural  alteration  of  the  original 
plan,  according  to  which  assorted  cargoes  were  to  come  from  Eu- 
rope to  New  Orleans,  and  thence  be  forwarded  to  Vera  Cruz,  and; 
the  proceeds  and  other  remittances  of  money  were  also  to  be  re- 
ceived at  New  Orleans,  on  their  way  to  Europe.  Yet,  there 
were  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  forwarding  the  proceeds,  and 
transferring  the  licenses ;  since  good  bills  of  exchange  on  the 
North  and  on  England  were  very  scarce,  and  could  be  had  only 
in  small  quantities;  and  for  shipments  to  Europe  there  were 
hardly  two  houses  to  which  I  could  have  made  advances  with  any 


ROBERT  FULTON.  Ill 

thing  like  security.  In  August,  1807,  I  had  completed  my  final 
arrangements,  intrusted  the  presentation  of  several  bills  that  yet 
had  some  time  to  run,  and  amounting  in  all  to  about  40,000  dol- 
lars, to  Messrs.  Amory  and  Callender,  and  returned  to  the  North, 
where  my  services  were  soon  needed  in  a  new  business  at 
Havana. 

It  was  exactly  at  this  time  that  I,  then  staying  at  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  boarding-houses  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the 
Widow  Gallop's,  on  Broadway,  while  engaged  in  making  my  pre- 
parations for  departure,  by  mere  chance,  at  breakfast,  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  gentleman  who  was  just  about  to  give  the 
world  the  first  example  of  steam-navigation.  The  reader  will 
readily  guess  that  I  am  now  referring  to  Robert  Fulton,  and  his 
newly-built  steamer  "  Clermont,"  constructed  by  him  at  his  own 
expense.  It  was  then  a  topic  in  the  mouth  of  every  body,  as  the 
attempt  he  proposed  in  a  short  time  to  make,  to  carry  his  plan 
into  execution,  was  the  object  of  universal  curiosity.  My  new 
acquaintance  wanted  me  to  be  present,  and  witness  the  departure 
of  his  steamboat,  which  was  to  take  place  from  the  bank  of  the 
Hudson  river,  at  12  o'clock  ;  and,  indeed,  it  did  not  require  much 
persuasion  to  induce  me  to  accede  to  this  request.  So  I  saw  this 
curious  and  wonderful  structure — 130  feet  in  length,  16£  feet 
broad,  7  feet  depth  of  hold,  rating  160  tons,  as  it  had  been 
described,  and  containing  about  450  passengers — leave  the  wharf 
as  the  clock  struck  twelve,  make  right  for  the  middle  of  the 
stream,  and  describe  a  circle  three  times  in  succession.  Then, 
defying  the  force  of  the  winds  and  waves  alike,  it  dashed  gallantly 
along  its  way  to  Albany,  as  though  the  most  favorable  breeze 
were  filling  its  sails.  A  vociferous  cheer  arose  from  the  thousands 
assembled  on  both  banks  of  the  Hudson  to  witness,  with  their 
own  eyes,  the  reality  of  this  truly  grand  experiment,  and  its  bril- 
liant success. 

It  is  the  lot  of  all  remarkable  and  generally  useful  inventions 
to  be  the  object  of  dispute,  claimed  by  the  ambition  of  various 
nations,  and  in  contending  for  it,  the  suum  cuique  is  neither  made 
a  habit,  nor  regarded  as  a  duty.  Even  the  purely  accidental 
and  by  no  means  splendid  invention  of  gunpowder  is  denied  to 


112  ROBERT  FULTON. 

the  German  monk  who  discovered  it — the  Chinese,  they  say,  had 
used  it  long  before.  The  art  of  printing,  too,  had  been  lying  hid- 
den in  some  nook  or  corner  of  Lombardy,  long  ere  Guttenberg 
and  Faust  touched  it.  It  is,  therefore,  nothing  strange,  that  the 
priority  in  discovering  the  applicability  of  steam  navigation  should 
have  been  contested  with  Fulton  by  the  Scotch,  and  even  the 
French.  We  may  let  these  various  claims  rest  on  their  own  in- 
trinsic merit ;  but  one  thing  can  never  be  brought  into  question, 
viz.,  the  unusual  perseverance  with  which  Fulton  followed  up  his 
plans,  after  the  depth  of  his  conviction  made  him  recognize,  only 
in  one  point  of  view,  the  difficulty  of  realizing  it,  and  the  con- 
stancy and  devoted  earnestness  that  did  not  hesitate  to  make 
any  sacrifice,  so  soon  as  this  difficulty  was  removed  or  overcome. 

The  reader  will  be  enabled  to  make  up  his  own  mind,  in  rela- 
tion to  all  this,  to  Fulton's  right  to  act  as  the  father  of  steam  nav- 
igation, to  his  unexampled  energy  under  the  crushing  pressure  of 
so  many  blows  and  caprices  of  fortune,  his  courage  m  doing  what 
would  be  called,  in  mercantile  language,  risking  his  all  upon  a  sin- 
gle card,  whenever  a  lucky  turn  of  affairs  suddenly  opened  to  him 
a  way  to  the  execution  of  his  plans. 

Fulton  was  born  somewhere  between  the  years  1768  and  1770, 
in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  began  his  career  as  apprentice 
to  a  goldsmith,  in  Philadelphia.  He  soon  gave  evidence  of  great 
and  manifold  talents,  among  which — when  a  moneyed  friend  fur- 
nished him  with  the  means  of  visiting  London — a  special  capacity 
for  mechanics,  and  a  fondness  for  the  study  of  the  steam  engine 
and  its  possible  uses,  speedily  developed  themselves. 

In  the  English  capital  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  fellow- 
countryman,  called  James  Rumsey,  and  from  him  probably  gath- 
ered the  idea  of  applying  steam  to  navigation  ;  for  Rumsey  had 
dealt  with  a  certain  John  Fitch  a  long  time  in  Philadelphia,  and 
had,  as  early  as  the  year  1788,  been  an  applicant,  in  common 
with  him,  for  a  patent  guarantying  the  exclusive  navigation  by 
steam  of  all  the  waters  of  Pennsylvania.  They  had  failed  in  this 
effort,  because  their  petition  set  forth  no  express  method  of  the 
application  to  ships  and  boats  ;  and  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylva- 
nia very  properly  hesitated  to  grant  a  patent  for  the  undefined 


ROBERT  FULTON.  113 

special  application  for  a  mere  idea,  of  which  several  might  be  in 
the  possession  at  the  same  time,  and,  as  it  has  since  appeared, 
really  were.  In  England,  Rumsey  was  more  fortunate,  and  pro- 
cured a  patent  on  the  24th  of  March,  1790. 

The  drawing  of  the  steamship  planned  by  Fitch  is  to  be  found 
in  the  first  volume  of  Brewster's  Encyclopedia.  The  vessel  was 
to  be  propelled  by  means  of  stern-wheels ;  and  the  scheme  differs 
but  little  from  that  of  Rumsey,  who  was  fortunate  enough,  in  Lon- 
don, to  find  an  American  capitalist,  and  to  interest  him  in  the 
affair.  Just  as  the  construction  of  the  vessel  had  been  commenced, 
the  latter  died.  The  parties  interested  tried  to  go  on  with  it, 
but  did  not  succeed.  ± 

At  the  same  time  several  Englishmen  and  Scotchmen  came 
forward  with  similar  projects,  particularly  an  engineer  called  Sy 
mington,  who,  after  he  had,  as  early  as  1788  and  1789,  become 
more  or  less  acquainted  with  the  plans  of  the  American,  at  length, 
some  twelve  years  later,  succeeded  in  completing  a  steam  vessel, 
which  he  named  the  Charlotte  Dundas,  and  set  it  in  motion,  with 
quite  a  favorable  result,  on  the  Eorth-and-Clyde  Canal.  He  there- 
upon received  orders  to  build  several  similar  boats  for  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  same  canal,  with  the  prospect  of  constructing  many 
more  for  the  Bridgewater  Canal.  But  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  Forth-and-Clyde  Canal  opposed  the  execution  of  this  plan. 
The  Duke  of  Bridgewater  died,  and  Symington,  who  had  spent  a 
considerable  portion  of  Iris  fortune  in  experiments  of  all  kinds, 
drew  back,  and  occupied  himself  with  various  improvements  of 
his  plan,  for  which  he  received  patents  from  time  to  time. 

Yet,  of  all  the  projects  relating  to  the  introduction  of  steam 
navigation,  none  were  carried  into  complete  execution,  until, 
finally,  after  the  peace  concluded  at  Ghent,  in  1814,  between  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States,  English  travellers,  convinced,  proba- 
bly, by  the  success  of  Fulton's  experiment  in  America,  spread 
the  knowledge  of  it  in  their  own  country,  incited  others  to  fol- 
low Fulton's  example,  and  ere  long  awakened  a  general  desire  to 
make  the  history  of  navigation  by  steam  a  subject  of  pursuit,  and 
to  disseminate  the  assertion,  that  the  American  was  not  its  inven- 
tor, but  that  its  origin  was  in  the  first  instance  British,  and  that 


114  ROBERT  FULTON. 

Fulton  could  claim  only  the  merit  of  having  transplanted  it  to 
American  soil. 

In  the  meanwhile  Fulton  had  not  been  idle,  but,  with  all  the 
peculiar  energy  of  the  American  enterprising  character,  had  been 
straining  every  nerve  to  procure  the  introduction  of  navigation 
by  steam  into  his  country.  However,  he  found  but  little  vantage- 
ground,  and  secured  but  little  faith  and  no  assistance  in  his  under- 
taking even  from  his  family,  the  Livingstons,  of  New  York  State, 
most  of  whom  were  wealthy,  some  of  them  having  already  been 
engaged  in  every  description  of  steamboat  and  steamship  project. 
This  drove  him  again  to  Europe,  and  from  England  to  Paris, 
where  Chancellor  Livingston,  a  relative,  was  then  residing  as  Am- 
bassador for  the  United  States,  and  could  make  him  acquainted 
with  scientific  men  of  all  classes.  He  likewise  fell  in  with  another 
relative,  Robert  Livingston,  who  had,  previously  to  that  time, 
made  experiments  in  steam  navigation,  in  connection  with  his 
countryman  Stevens.  Fulton  and  Robert  Livingston  hereupon 
had  a  steam-vessel  built  at  their  joint  expense.  At  the  moment 
when  it  was  to  perform  its  first  evolutions  on  the  Seine,  before 
the  eyes  of  the  authorities  and  distinguished  personages  invited 
thither  to  witness  it,  it  broke  in  two,  and  went  to  pieces,  with  the 
weight  of  its  unwieldy  machinery,  which  had  unavoidably  been 
constructed  in  England. 

Fulton,  not  at  all  disheartened  by  this,  bethought  himself  of 
other  projects,  and  at  length  perfected  plans  of  certain  machines, 
which  he  offered  to  the  Government,  and  which  were  adapted  to 
the  destruction,  by  sub-marine  means,  of  the  English  squadron 
then  blockading  and  annoying  Cherbourg.  These  machines  were 
to  be  sunken  in  the  water,  through  which  they  would  make  their 
way,  propelled  by  steam,  to  the  keels  of  the  hostile  ships,  and, 
there  attaching  themselves,  explode  and  destroy  the  enemy.  The 
plan  was,  according  to  custom,  referred  to  a  Committee  of  the 
War  Ministry  and  the  Engineer  Corps,  but  regarded  by  them  as 
scarcely  worth  the  trouble  of  an  investigation.  The  jealousy 
with  which  the  French  engineers  have  ever  looked  upon  strangers 
is  notorious.  Besides  this,  the  unsuccessful  trial  on  the  Seine 
worked  greatly  to  Fulton's  disadvantage.     Gradually  his  impa- 


ROBERT  FULTON.  115 

tience  reached  a  point  where  it  no  longer  knew  any  bounds.  He 
stormed  the  Ministry,  the  Committee,  never  received  any  satisfac- 
tory answer,  and  at  length,  backed  by  the  Ambassador  Living- 
ston's influence,  repeatedly  made  his  way  to  the  presence  of  Na- 
poleon. The  latter  was  taken  up  with  quite  other  things,  and 
finally,  at  a  court  ball,  expressed  his  displeasure  at  Fulton's  head- 
long zeal  in  the  following  words  to  Livingston :  "Debarrassez-moi 
de  cefou  o?'  Americain  /" — "  Rid  me  of  this  fool  of  an  American!" 
Fulton  felt  that  there  was  no  longer  any  field  open  for  him  in 
Paris.  So  he  returned  to  England,  assumed  the  name  of  Major 
Francis,  and  found  means  to  bring  his  project  before  the  Board  of 
Admiralty,  at  whose  head  stood  the  well-known  minister  Dundas, 
afterwards  Lord  Melville.  The  idea  was  then  conceived  of  blowing 
up  the  French  ligne  cC embassage,  and  the  flotillas  of  Bologne  and 
Cherbourg,  by  means  of  these  inventions,  which  Fulton  called  tor- 
pedoes and  catamarans.  The  Navy  Committee  and  Fulton  agreed 
upon  the  price  of  £40,000  sterling,  for  which  the  latter  was  to 
make  over  his  invention  to  the  British  Government,  and  receive 
the  pay  when  a  first  successful  trial  had  been  accomplished.  The 
English  Admiralty  had  the  machines  prepared  by  their  workmen, 
and  intrusted  their  application  to  the  mighty  hands  of  Lord  Nel- 
son, who  at  that  time  commanded  the  English  fleet  off  Bologne. 
The  experiment,  however,  was  unsuccessful ;  the  machines  ex- 
ploded out  of  the  water  before  they  reached  the  French  squadron. 
Of  course  there  was  no  further  thought  of  paying  Fulton ;  yet  the 
latter  was  so  unremitting  and  obstinate  in  laying  the  whole  blame 
of  failure  on  the  unskilful  construction  of  the  machines,  that  the 
Admiralty  at  last  agreed  to  appoint  a  special  committee,  in  whose 
presence  the  inventor  should,  with  a  machine  prepared  under  his 
own  personal  inspection,  prove  the  practicability  of  the  plan  at 
his  own  expense  and  risk ;  that  is  to  say,  on  a  vessel  belonging  to 
himself.  On  the  day  fixed  Fulton  repaired  with  the  Committee, 
Dundas  at  its  head,  to  Deal,  where  a  small  vessel  under  the  Amer- 
ican flag,  and  purchased  by  him,  lay  at  anchor  in  the  Roads. 
Fulton,  holding  the  apparatus  in  his  hand,  requested  the  Commit- 
tee-men present  to  glance  at  their  watches.  It  was  just  twelve 
o'clock  when  he  let  his  torpedo  fall  into  the  water,  with  these  words, 


110  ROBERT  FULTON. 

"  In  precisely  five-and-twenty  minutes,  gentlemen,  you  will  see 
my  ship  yonder  fly  into  the  air  !"  It  happened  as  he  said.  The 
experiment  was  completely  successful,  and  Fulton  of  course  stood 
to  the  stipulated  price. 

On  the  Continent,  in  the  meanwhile,  the  tables  had  been 
turned.  Napoleon's  eye  was  bent  upon  another  object  than  the 
invasion  of  England.  His  attention  was  absorbed  in  the  war  with 
Russia  and  Austria,  and  hence  the  danger  that  threatened  the 
English  shores  was  no  longer  so  pressing.  Consequently  an  ar- 
rangement was  come  to  with  Major  Francis,  who  finally  accepted 
one  half  the  amount  that  had  been  promised  to  him,  and  returned 
with  the  money  to  New  York,  under  his  own  proper  name  of 
Fulton. 

Now,  when  he  no  longer  was  dependent  upon  outside  help,  his 
favorite  idea  revived  in  him  again,  with  fresh  and  increased  vigor. 
He  built,  at  his  own  expense,  the  large  steam  vessel  previously 
described,  and  named  it  after  Clermont,  the  country-seat  of  his 
friend,  the  Chancellor  Livingston.  It  reached  Clermont,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  110  miles,  within  twenty-four  hours,  left  that  point  again 
at  nine  o'clock,  on  the  next  morning,  and  arrived  at  Albany,  some 
forty-seven  miles  farther,  in  about  eight  hours.  It  had  thus  made 
nearly  five  miles  per  hour  against  wind  and  current. 

This  steamboat  was  the  first  that  its  owner  began  to  employ  to 
a  practical  purpose  and  valuable  result.  I  have,  elsewhere,  relat- 
ed the  further  history  of  Fulton,  who  lived  only  eight  years  after 
the  epoch  of  his  success.* 

Among  the  Bills  taken  from  Ouvrard's  portfolio  by  Napoleon, 
were  some  105  drafts,  to  the  amount  of  700,000  piastres,  drawn 
by  the  Spanish  Minister  of  Finance,  Don  Miguel  Cayetano  Soler 
on  the  "  Caxa  de  Consolidacion,"  or  Consolidation  Fund,  in  Havana. 
Count  Mollien  had  sent  them  to  Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.,  from  whose 
hands  they  came  to  mine.  The  letter  of  advices  from  the  before- 
mentioned  drawer  Soler  to  the  Don  Raphael  Gomez  Roubaud, 
the  Director  of  the  Consolidation  Fund,  in  Havana,  said  expressly 
that  these  bills  were  to  be  paid  only  in  silver,  and  in  no  other  kind 

*  See  my  article  entitled  "  Robert  Fulton  and  steam  Navigation,"  in  No.  20, 
of  the  "  Deutschen  Handelzeitunjj:"  issue  of  Mav  20,  1849. 


DEPARTURE  FOR  HAVANA.  117 

of -coin,  and,  in  the  two  letters  of  introduction  accompanying  the 
advices,  for  the  benefit  of  the  agent  intrusted  with  the  presentation 
of  the  bills,  whose  name  was  left  in  blank,  the  same  explicit  direc- 
tion was  repeated.  The  blanks  referred  to,  were  now  filled  with 
my  name.  One  of  these  letters  of  recommendation  was  for  the 
Intendant-General  Roubaud,  the  other  for  the  Governor-General 
of  the  Island  of  Cuba,  the  Marquis  de  Someruelos.  Both  of  them 
contained  an  especial  request  to  treat  the  bearer  with  marked  po~ 
liteness :  the  reason  why  I  here  mention  this  circumstance,  will 
appear  farther  on  in  my  narrative. 

We  had  already  learned  in  Philadelphia  that,  since  the  break- 
ing off  of  communications  with  Mexico,  there  were  no  more  silver 
dollars  to  be  found  in  all  Cuba,  and  that  the  only  current  values 
and  tenders  there  consisted  in  doubloons  which  were  accepted  in 
the  United  States,  at  15-J-  piastres,  but  were  worth  from  17 £  to 
18  in  Havana  and  the  Island  of  Cuba  generally,  where  they  then 
circulated,  at  that  price.  There  was  no  doubt  whatever  that  the 
bills  must  be  paid  at  Havana,  and,  as  the  Spanish  Government 
had  itself  directed,  in  silver,  and,  since  the  absolute  impossibility 
of  making  such  payment  existed,  the  idea  naturally  arose  of  pro- 
posing to  the  Government  of  the  Island  an  exchange  for  bills  on 
Mexico,  with  a  small  gratification  of,  say  5  per  cent.,  for  premium 
difference.  I  had  agreed  with  Parish,  that  even  at  par  value  such 
an  exchange,  in  case  the  Cuban  Government  consented  to  it, 
would  be  a  suitable  arrangement.  In  order  to  facilitate  the  nego- 
tiations at  Havana,  I  had  provided  myself  with  an  attest  of  the 
then  Marquis  de  Castel-Urujo,  Spanish  Minister  at  Washington 
City,  who  happened  to  be  in  Philadelphia.  This  certificate 
testified  that  the  premium  of  insurance  on  moneys  sent  from  Vera 
Cruz  to  the  United  States,  was  then  from  20  to  25  per  cent.  I, 
hereupon,  embarked  in  one  of  the  clippers,  a  schooner  named 
"  Collector,"  for  Havana,  and  dispatched  the  same  vessel  imme- 
diately on  my  arrival,  to  Vera  Cruz,  to  ship  piastres  for  Philadel- 
phia, with  a  request  to  Parish  to  send  the  same  craft  again  to  me 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  further  advices  to  Vera  Cruz. 

On  the  next  morning,  I  paid  my  visit  to  the  Marquis  de  Some- 
ruelos, the  Captain  General,  and  then  waited  upon  the  Intendant 


118  HAVANA. 

Don  Raphael  Gomez  Roubaud,  to  whom  the  former  had  referred 
me,  and  for  whom,  as  I  have  already  intimated,  I  held  a  letter. 
Both  these  gentlemen  received  me  with  extraordinary  politeness, 
but  also,  with  the  plain  confession  that  they  must  employ  the  few 
resources  that  present  circumstances  left  at  their  disposal,  for 
their  own  purposes ;  that  they  had  no  money,  above  all,  silver 
dollars,  and  that  I  should  unavoidably  have  to  retire  without  the 
funds.  "  In  the  mean  time,"  remarked  the  Intendant,  "  we  are 
not  now  treating  of  a  final  answer,  and  will  let  the  matter  rest  a 
while  longer  under  consideration."  I  earnestly  requested  a  speedy 
interview,  and  it  was  appointed  for  the  third  day.  Upon  this  oc- 
casion, the  Intendant  declared  that  he  was  ready  to  cash  the  bills, 
if  I  would  consent  to  take  doubloons  in  payment,  at  18  piastres 
a  piece.  I  pointed  to  the  phraseology  of  the  bills,  and  the  parti- 
cular directions  of  Soler,  the  Financial  Minister  at  Madrid,  and 
said  that  I  could  accept  nothing  but  silver.  "  We  have  not  got 
it,"  he  replied,  "  and  cannot  give  it  to  you,  if  you  were  to  squeeze 
us.  If  you  will  not  take  doubloons,  you  will  get  nothing  at  all !" 
I  expostulated  with  him,  and  pointed  out  that  by  his  arrangement 
I  would  lose  three  piastres  on  every  doubloon.  If,  I  added,  any 
such  plan  was  to  be  adopted,  it  could  only  base  itself  upon 
counting  me  the  doubloons  at  15  instead  of  18  piastres.  He,  at 
length,  got  angry,  and  said  to  me  in  a  stern  and  loud  voice  : — 
"  Mr.  Nolte,  we  are  not  accustomed  to  being  told  by  strangers 
what  we  shall  do,  and  when  strangers  come  to  us  with  such  pre- 
tensions, we  send  them  there."  So  saying,  he  pointed  with  his 
forefinger  to  the  lofty  Moro  Castle,  which  commands  the  entrance 
of  the  harbor,  and  was  right  before  us  where  we  stood. 

"Indeed !"  was  my  response.  "  Now,  I  should  very  much  like 
to  see  the  interior  of  a  fortress  to  which  strangers  are  scrupulously 
denied  admission."  He  looked  at  me  with  some  surprise,  but 
very  gravely,  and  then  continued :  "  Can  we  not  come  to  an  un- 
derstanding 1  I  can  so  arrange  it,  that  you  may  get  the  whole 
amount  in  sugar — will  you  take  it  V  My  answer  was,  that  I  had 
not  come  to  buy  sugar,  what  else  could  it  be !  "  But  what  will 
you  do,  then,  when  no  other  kind  of  payment  is  possible  ?"  "  I 
will  enter  my  protest,"  said  I,  "  and  go  very  quietly  back  with 


A  PROPOSITION.  119 

my  bills."  "  A  protest  V  he  almost  shouted,  "  you  cannot  find  in 
the  whole  colony,  one  single  notary  who  would  dare  to  protest  the 
bills  of  the  government."  "  I  have  provided  against  that,"  was 
my  rejoinder,  "  for,  before  my  departure  from  Philadelphia,  1  had 
myself  legally  made  a  Notary,  my  signature  will  be  certified  as 
good  in  law  by  the  Marquis  de  Castel  Urujo,  and  so  everything  is 
in  regular  form  and  order — nous  sommes  en  regie,"  were  my  last 
words,  for  we  conversed  in  the  French  language.  I  had  learned 
from  good  authority,  in  the  city,  that  Don  Raphael  had  been  Secre- 
tary to  the  Spanish  Legation  at  Paris,  and  that  he  had  received  the 
appointment  of  Intendant  General  and  Director  of  the  Tobacco- 
Factory — a  royal  manufactory  of  cigars — through  the  influence 
of  Prince  Talleyrand,  who  was  fond  of  him.  I  availed  myself  of 
this  circumstance  to  express  to  the  Intendant  my  regret  that  my 
very  simple  mission  had  to  contend  with  so  many  obstacles,  and 
that  I  feared  all  this  would  produce  a  bad  impression  at  Paris, 
especially  upon  one  person  whom  we  both  respected.  He  at 
once  responded  in  his  bad  French,  and  with  a  certain  degree  of 
vivacity,  "  Personne  que  Monsu  Talleyrand!"  He  then  looked 
very  grave,  and  at  length  said  :  "  Have  you  nothing  to  propose  to 
me  V  He  was  now  at  the  point  where  I  wished  to  have  him. 
My  reply  was  riot  long  in  coming,  and  I  endeavored  to  make  him 
understand,  that  as  we  had  a  regular  establishment  in  Mexico  for 
the  presentation  of  our  numerous  bills,  it  would  perhaps  be  the 
best  and  shortest  plan  to  give  me  a  bill  on  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico, 
merely  adding,  that  getting  my  money  there  was  not  the  same  as 
receiving  it  in  Havana,  and  hence  he  would,  of  course,  perceive 
that  this  exchange  could  not  be  made  without  a  certain  premium ! 
He  finally  said,  "  Give  me  your  ideas  in  writing,  and  we  shall 
then  see  how  we  can  come  to  an  arrangement  with  each  other  !" 
The  mention  of  Talleyrand's  name  had  already  worked  in  some 
degree,  but  how  deep  an  impression  it  was  yet  destined  to  pro- 
duce will  be  apparent  to  my  readers  from  what  is  to  follow.  I 
drew  up  my  letter  to  the  Intendant,  declared  to  him  the  conditions 
under  which  I  would  consent  to  an  exchange  of  the  bills ;  and  on 
the  principle'  that  much  must  be  demanded,  in  order  to  receive 
something,  asked  for  a  premium  of  thirty-five  per  cent.,  basing 


120        ADVENTURE  AT  THE  CATHEDRAL. 

this  demand  upon  the  fact,  that  the  premium  of  insurance  from 
Vera  Cruz  to  Philadelphia  was  at  twenty-five  per  cent.  I  then 
dispatched  my  letter,  which  was  written  in  the  French  language, 
to  the  official  personages.  The  foreign  idiom  I  had  employed 
rendered  necessary  a  translation  into  Spanish,  communication  of 
the  translated  document  to  the  Captain-General,  and  gave  rise  to 
a  correspondence,  to  which,  from  the  interminable  questions  pro- 
pounded, I  could  see  no  end.  I  waited  several  days,  in  no  very 
pleasant  mood,  for  a  reply.  Christmas  was  approaching,  and, 
upon  the  evening  before  that  universal  holiday,  I  went,  like  every- 
body else,  quite  alone  to  the  Cathedral.  In  one  of  the  obscurely- 
illuminated  passages  of  that  edifice  I  all  at  once  heard  my  name 
pronounced,  in  a  subdued  voice,  at  my  shoulder.  "  Mr.  Nolte  ! 
Mr.  Nolte !"  I  glanced  round  and  saw,  close  behind  me,  a  man 
not  yet  forty,  to  judge  by  his  appearance,  but  to  whom  a  certain 
bureaucratic  air  seemed  to  have  become  a  second  nature.  "  You 
are,"  he  continued,  "a  German,  if  I  am  not  mistaken  V  "Yes," 
I  replied,  "  of  German  descent  at  least."  "  Well,"  he  added,  "  I 
am  employed  in  the  offices  of  the  Consolidation  Fund.  I  know 
for  what  purpose  you  are  here,  have  read  all  your  letters,  and 
can,  perhaps,  render  you  a  service  as  a  fellow-countryman.  You 
write  extremely  well,  and  your  arguments  are  irresistible ;  but 
you  will  not  bring  the  business  through  after  that  fashion  in  this 
country.  You  must  try  another  plan" — here  he  made  a  motion 
with  his  thumb  and  forefinger,  as  though  he  were  counting  money 
— "  our  Intendant  is  very  greedy  for  gold.  The  only  argument 
that  touches  him  is  this" — and  here  he  repeated  his  finger-play. 

I  thanked  him  for  his  information,  inquired  his  name,  and  then 
asked  him  who  was  the  person  most  confidentially  favored  by  the 
Intendant.  He  named  to  me  a  Mr.  Santa  Maria,  former  associate 
partner  of  the  house  of  Cuesta  &  Santa  Maria,  who  lived  in  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  retirement,  but  still  magnificently,  in  the  suburb 
called  the  Salii.  After  the  holiday  I  hastened  to  pave  my  way  to 
this  individual.  My  correspondent,  Don  Salvador  de  Martiartu, 
who  subsequently  became  so  rich,  and  who  had  not  been  able  to 
give  me  one  single  word  of  useful  advice,  or  any  useful  indication 
of  the  plan  I  ought  to  pursue,  was  evidently  excited  when  I  made 


ARITHMETICAL  CALCULATION.  121 

inquiries  concerning  Senor  Santa  Maria,  said  that  the  latter  was  a 
sly  dog,  and  not  to  be  trusted,  but  a  man  greatly  respected,  and 
one  who  kept  the  best  table,  after  the  Spanish  style,  in  Havana. 
He  did  not,  however,  belong  to  his  acquaintance. 

I  then  applied  to  Mr.  James  Drake,  an  Englishman,  married  to 
a  Spanish  lady,  and  who  was  well  known  in  the  mercantile  world. 
He  told  me  he  would  make  me  acquainted  with  Santa  Maria ; 
that  he  was  a  skilful  manager,  and  I  must  be  on  my  guard,  for  he 
was  not  to  be  trusted  beyond  a  finger's  breadth.  Thus  I  suc- 
ceeded in  meeting  Santa  Maria,  who  gave  me  to  understand,  at 
our  very  first  interview,  that  he  knew  my  whole  business,  the  In- 
tendant  had  told  him  everything,  and  he  had  intended  to  seek  me 
out  the  very  next  day,  for  the  purpose  of  offering  me  his  services. 
I  concluded  from  this,  in  my  own  mind,  that  the  Intendant  had 
instructed  him  to  approach  me,  and  find  out  what  could  be  made 
of  me.  "  You  require,"  he  said,  with  a  laugh,  "  thirty-five  per 
cent,  to  get  your  dollars  from  Mexico.  Do  you  think  it  will  be 
possible  to  procure  as  much  as  that  V  "Ay  !  why  not  f  was  my 
answer ;  "  when  one  has  the  right  on  his  side,  and  knows  how  to 
talk  !"  While  I  was  uttering  these  words,  I  too  used  the  peculiar 
motion  of  the  fingers  employed  by  the  German  clerk  of  the  Caxo 
de  Consolidation.  "  I  see,"  continued  Santa  Maria,  "  that  we  shall 
readily  understand  each  other.  Now,  furnish  me  with  any  plau- 
sible calculation  whatever,  that  it  would  be  better  for  this  govern- 
ment to  give  you  a  bill  of  exchange  on  Mexico  for  the  700,000 
silver  piastres,  with  the  addition  of  thirty-five  per  cent.,  than  to 
let  you  take  46,666§  doubloons  out  of  the  country — for  our  treas- 
ury is  empty — and  I  will  guarantee  the  rest.  Hold  your  purse 
ready."  Upon  this  we  separated,  and  after  some  use  of  arithme- 
tic, backwards  and  forwards,  I  next  day  brought  him  the  following 
brief  calculation : — 


MEMORANDUM. 

"Were  I  to  accept  doubloons  at  18  piasters  apiece,  which  I  could  dispose  oi 
and  turn  into  current  money  only  at  16,  in  the  United  States,  a  loss  would 
thence  arise  for  me,  of  16£  per  cent.  Now,  in  order  to  make  up  this  loss 
which  I,  being  entitled  to  be  paid  silver,  am  not  bound  to  suffer,  I  should  havt' 

6 


122  THE  JINGLING  ARGUMENT. 

to  receive  840,000  piastres  in  gold,  -whereby  the  government  would  be  obliged 
to  pay  out  a  surplusage  of  140,000  piastres  more  than  if  they  gave  me  silver. 

$840,000 
Less  16£  per  cent,  -    -    -    -       140,000 

$700,000. 
Again,  the  sum  paid  out  must  be  replaced  by  importation  from  Mexico,  and  to 
cover  this  capital  of  $840,000  with  insurance,      -    -     $988,235 
must  be  insured.    From  Vera  Cruz  to  Philadelphia, 
the  premium  is  25  per  cent,  but  from  Vera  Cruz  to 
Havana,  I  count  only  some  15  per  cent. 148  235 

The  amount  covered, 840,000 

The  Government's  loss, 140,000 

Outlay  for  premium, 148,235 

Total  outlay, $288,235 

The  premium  of  35  per  cent,  asked  by  me,  for  700,000  pias- 
tres, amounts  to 245,000 

Consequently,  the  Government  of  Cuba  would  save  by  my       

proposed  operation, $43,235 

When  I  took  this  memorandum  to  Santa  Maria  his  eyes  danced 
again.  "  Why,"  he  shouted,  "  that's  clear  enough  to  stun  a  man! 
Not  another  word  is  needed  !"  A  couple  of  days  later  he  let  me 
know  that  the  Intendant  had  agreed,  and  the  only  thing  to  be 
arranged  now  was,  what  amount  I  was  going  to  give  him  and  the 
Intendant  together.  I  finally  settled  with  him  on  two  per  cent, 
of  the  $700,000,  whenever  the  new  bill  of  exchange  was  handed 
over,  that  is,  $14,000. 

The  Intendant  could  not  officiate  in  government  matters  with- 
out the  concurrence  of  the  Captain-General,  and  it  was  therefore 
necessary  to  get  his  assent  to  the  exchange  of  bills.  The  Marquis 
de  Someruelos,  a  thoroughly  honorable  man,  said  that  he  would 
not  have  a  word  to  say  in  the  matter,  if  the  Consulate  approved 
of  the  calculation.  This  Consulate  was  composed  of  three  of  the 
first  Spanish  merchants  in  Havana,  one  of  whom  had  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  an  incorruptible  man  ;  but  the  others  were  accus- 
tomed to  listen  only  to  jingling  arguments.  The  next  step, 
now,  was  to  procure  the  desired  adoption  of  my  plan  by  thest> 


SUCCESSFUL  CONCLUSION.  123 

men.  After  Santa  Maria  had  felt  the  pulse  of  both  the  easy- 
conscienced  gentlemen,  he  told  me  that  three  thousand  dollars 
would  be  enough  "pour  terminer  V affaire" — to  wind  up  the  affair ! 
I  handed  over  the  money,  and  a  week  afterwards  received,  in  two 
remittances,  a  single  bill  on  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico,  for  the  total 
sum  of  $945,000.  The  heaviest  indorsement  I  ever  gave  was 
this,  of  course,  when  I  dispatched  it  to  Villanueva.  The  Intendant 
and  I  had  agreed  that  my  hundred  and  five  bills  were  to  be  de- 
livered only  when  the  intelligence  came  from  Mexico  that  his 
draft  had  been  honored  ;  but  they  should  remain,  until  that  time, 
in  a  packet,  stamped  with  both  our  seals,  in  the  safe  of  the  Caxa 
de  Consolidation. 

After  the  ultimate  conclusion  of  our  business  negotiation,  the 
Intendant  gave  me  a  splendid  dinner  in  the  Palace  of  the  Intend- 
ancy,  and,  according  to  the  custom  at  that  time  prevailing  in  Ha- 
vana, I  was  placed  alone  at  the  head  of  the  table.  On  my  right  sat 
the  Intendant,  and  the  whole  company,  excepting  Mr.  James  Drake, 
who  sat  on  my  left  in  plain  citizen's  dress,  were  attired  in  bestarred 
and  beribboned  uniforms.  When  the  party  was  breaking  up  in 
the  evening,  the  Intendant  took  me  aside,  and  quietly  said,  "  When 
you  write  to  Paris  do  not  forget  to  assure  Prince  Talleyrand  of 
my  devotion,  and  to  tell  him  what  reception  you  had  at  my 
hands."  1  merely  answered,  "  Je  ferai  mo7i  devoir" — I'll  do  my 
duty — for  I  could  not  give  him  a  promise  of  the  kind. 

The  schooner  Collector  appeared,  a  few  days  later,  off  the  har- 
bor, and  then  left  with  my  dispatches  for  Vera  Cruz,  whence  I,  in 
a  very  short  time,  received  the  satisfactory  intelligence,  that 
the  Viceroy  had  paid  the  heavy  bill.  I  then  took  my  seal  from 
the  packet  in  the  Consolidation  Bureau,  and  gave  the  German  an 
appropriate  douceur.  Forty-four  years  have  rolled  away  since 
then,  but  I  have  never  been  fortunate  enough  to  remember  the 
name  of  that  friendly  man.     He  was  a  Rhinelander,  however. 

Since  the  Messrs.  Hope,  in  accordance  with  the  arrangements 
made  between  them  and  Ouvrard,  which,  as  the  reader  will  re- 
member, were  transferred  to  the  French  treasury,  had  to  pay 
three  francs  and  seventy-five  centimes  for  every  dollar  received 
and  demanded,  the  $700,000  payable  at  Havana  were  estimated 


124  THE  PROFITS. 

at  2,625,000  francs.  Through  my  arrangements,  another  payment 
in  Vera  Cruz  was  now  substituted  for  this  one,  and,  at  the  rate 
just  given,  a  clear  profit  of  918,750  francs  was  secured.  I  was 
really  gratified  at  being  the  means  of  putting  so  much  money  into 
the  pockets  of  my  patrons  at  Amsterdam.  How  this  business 
finally  resulted,  remains  for  my  readers  to  learn  in  the  further 
course  of  this  narrative. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    SHIPWRECK. 

Shipwreck  off  the  coast  of  Florida,  on  the  Carysfort  Reef — My  sojourn  in  the 
village  of  Nassau  on  the  Island  of  New  Providence,  one  of  the  Bahama 
group — Return  to  the  United  States — Arrival  in  Philadelphia. 

There  existed  no  necessity  of  an  immediate  return  to  Philadel- 
phia, as  the  embargo  laid  upon  all  shipping  by  the  American 
Government  had  reduced  commerce,  particularly  the  export  trade 
of  the  United  States,  to  a  stand-still.  I  might  have  awaited  a 
better  season  of  the  year  for  my  voyage  back  to  the  States,  yet, 
however  much  my  sojourn  in  Havana  pleased  me,  I  still  felt  an 
inward  anxiety  for  more  agreeable  circumstances  than  those  which 
there  surrounded  me.  Yankee  supercargoes  and  ship-captains 
did  not  satisfy  my  need  of  daily  conversation,  and  my  heart  too 
was  not  altogether  an  uninterested  party  to  the  desire  I  felt  for 
an  early  return  to  Philadelphia.  One  vessel  bound  for  Charles- 
ton, and  two  for  Baltimore,  offered  me  the  chance  of  passage 
home.  One  of  the  latter  was  the  schooner  Independence,  a  real 
"  clipper,"  and  the  other  was  a  strong-built  schooner  called  the 
^Merchant.''''  I  bespoke  my  passage  in  the  latter,  with  a  young 
Englishman  called  Creighton,  an  agent  for  the  New  York 
house  of  Murray  &  Sons.  We  were  to  sail  on  the  18th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1808,  and  our  baggage  was  on  board,  but  we  were  detained, 
by  contrary  winds,  until  January  25th,  on  which  day  several  good 
ships,  that  had  arrived  in  the  meanwhile,  and  had  already  taken 
in  cargo,  put  to  sea  with  us.  We  should  not  believe  in  omens  ; 
and  to  allow  ourselves  to  be  governed  by  them  I  have  ever  re- 
garded as  great  folly;  yet,  that  at  certain  moments  of  our  lives 


126  THE  SHIPWRECK. 

a  dark  foreshadowing  of  some  misfortune,  or  some  great  annoy- 
ance that  is  impending,  rises  within  us,  I  experienced  twice  in  the 
same  year.  At  the  moment  when  I  went  on  board  of  the  clipper 
Merchant  an  inner-voice  spoke  to  me,  as  if  to  say  that  I  had  done 
wrong  in  not  selecting  the  schooner  Independence. 

It  was  noon  when  we  made  sail.  Violent  northeast  winds  had 
hindered  our  departure.  Even  upon  the  occurrence  of  these 
northern  storms,  when  the  sea  breaks  over  the  lofty  Moro  Castle, 
perched  as  it  is  upon  rocks,  the  waters  inside  of  the  fortress  in  the 
bay  that  forms  the  harbor  of  Havana  are  but  slightly  agitated. 
The  sudden  change  from  the  latter  to  the  towering  billows  of  the 
Gulf  Stream  often  upsets  even  seamen,  as  frequently  happens 
likewise  in  the  British  Channel  when  sailing  out  of  Dover.  My 
travelling  companions  and  I  were  attacked  with  violent  sea- 
sickness, and  driven  to  our  beds,  when  we  had  hardly  turned  our 
backs  upon  the  fort.  On  the  next  day,  it  blew  a  gale  from  the 
south-east,  which  tossed  us  to  and  fro  :  our  sea-sickness  was  past, 
but  partly  for  want  of  appetite  or  any  desire  to  move,  and  partly 
through  sheer  indolence,  we  lay  dozing  on  our  mattresses.  That 
night,  about  eleven  o'clock,  I  was  awakened  by  a  dreadfully  severe 
concussion,  and  almost  thrown  out  of  my  berth.  The  sudden 
cessation  of  the  ship's  motion  and  a  still  more  violent  jolt  left  me 
no  further  doubt  that  we  had  struck.  I  shouted  to  my  travelling 
comrade,  Creighton,  and  my  faithful  negro,  Celestin,  to  come  on 
deck.  Now  followed  three  concussions,  so  violent  that  I  could 
scarcely  keep  my  feet,  and  at  the  same  moment,  the  ship  lay  over 
on  her  beam  ends.  "  Where  is  the  captain  T*  I  asked  of  the  man 
at  the  helm.  "  He  is  asleep !"  was  the  answer.  I  shouted  into 
the  cabin  which  was  already  filling  with  water  :  "  Captain  Mur- 
phy !  Captain  Murphy !"  No  reply  !  "  Where  is  the  mate,  then  V 
was  my  next  question.  "  Up  there  by  the  forecastle !"  was  the 
reply.  I  now  felt  an  arm,  which  I  seized.  It  was  the  captain, 
who  stumbled  out  of  his  cabin,  yawning,  and  as  I  afterwards 
learned,  had  been  drinking  all  the  evening  with  the  mate.  I  had 
scarcely  made  the  captain  understand  the  full  extent  of  our  dan- 
ger, when,  still  laboring  under  the  effects  of  his  carouse  and  sud- 
den alarm,  he  began,  as  if  totally  deprived  of  his  senses,  to  bellow 


THE  SHIPWRECK.  12? 

forth  an  incoherent  jumble  of  commands.  We  had  been  five 
minutes  in  this  situation,  before  a  single  sail  was  taken  in.  The 
schooner  was  careening  over  more  and  more,  and  was  already 
half  under  water.  A  couple  of  sailors  had  been  lucky  enough, 
in  this  general  confusion,  to  find  the  axe,  and  we  hoped,  that  by 
cutting  away  the  masts,  we  should  be  able  to  right  the  ship  again; 
but  the  axe  proved  useless,  and  the  wind  extinguished  our  only 
lantern. 

It  was  time  to  take  to  the  boat,  and,  after  great  exertions, 
we  managed  to  get  it  loose  from  the  tackle  that  secured  it  to  the 
deck,  and  launch  it.  The  constant  cracking  of  our  craft  made  us 
fear  that  it  was  going  to  pieces.  How  we  succeeded  in  getting 
a  keg  of  ship's  biscuit,  the  compass  and  the  Captain's  quadrant 
into  the  long  boat,  is  now  incomprehensible  to  me.  Four  sailors 
leaped  into  the  boat  and  went  to  work  bailing  out  the  water  that 
dashed  in  furiously  over  the  breakers.  My  colored  man  had,  with 
great  effort,  worked  his  way  into  the  cabin  which  was  half  under 
water,  and,  heaven  only  knows  how,  seized  my  wearing  apparel, 
(for  I  was  in  little  more  than  my  shirt,)  my  watch  and  my  writ- 
ing-desk, in  which,  as  he  well  knew,  I  kept  papers  of  great  value 
and  importance.  I  could  not  open  this  secretary,  for  where  was 
the  key  1  So  I  threw  it  into  the  long-boat  where  my  travelling- 
friend  had  managed  to  put  his  also,  and  then  laid  hold  of  a  rope 
to  swing  himself  down  after  it,  when  suddenly  the  tackle  that  held 
the  boat  to  our  vessel  parted,  and  the  little  craft,  with  the  four 
sailors  in  it,  was  swept  away  from  us.  A  couple  of  minutes 
afterwards,  we  heard  the  words :  "  We  are  aground !  we  shall 
perish !"  and  then  the  howling  of  the  tempest  and  the  roar  of  the 
sea  was  the  only  sound  in  our  ears.  The  jolly-boat  was  still  left 
hanging  from  the  stern  davits,  over  the  rudder.  That  might  save 
us!  It  took  us  but  an  instant  to  lower  it;  but  it  had  hardly 
touched  the  water  before  the  waves  had  dashed  it  to  pieces 
against  the  stern.  We  had  now  but  one  hope  of  escape  left — the 
construction  of  a  serviceable  raft.  Desperate  as  the  attempt 
seemed,  we  still  managed  to  get  together  a  couple  of  spare  spars 
and  oars,  and  tackle  to  fasten  them,  when  suddenly  the  foremast 
went  crashing  over  the  side,  carrying  away  our  half-completed 


128  THE  SHIPWRECK. 

work  with  it  in  its  fall.  The  ship  now  sank  deeper  than  before, 
and  in  such  a  position  that  the  starboard  side  was  perpendicularly 
above  the  larboard.  Little  more  than  the  iron  railings  of  the 
quarter  deck  and  the  mainmast  was  still  visible  above  the  raging 
breakers.  In  this  helpless  condition,  all  we  could  do  was  to  lash 
ourselves  fast  on  the  iron  railings  to  which  we  had  been  clinging, 
and  there  await  the  worst  with  resignation.  It  is  easy  to  com- 
prehend that  we  looked  forward  to  nothing  but  a  watery  grave. 
To  think  of  rescue  was  but  folly.  And  yet,  how  plainly  the  con- 
soling voice  of  hope  spoke  within  me !  The  feeling  to  which  I 
allude,  surpasses  all  attempt  at  description !  It  lasted  scarcely 
for  seconds — yet  what  seconds  !  My  travelling  companions,  the 
drunken  sot  Murphy,  and  even  most  of  the  sailors,  seemed  to  be 
completely  prostrated  under  the  burthen  of  our  hard  fate.  I  too, 
was,  after  all,  not  in  much  better  plight ;  yet,  when  I  put  every 
thing  together,  I  can  ascribe  my  greater  fortitude  only  to  the  idea 
which  would  not  leave  me,  that  we  should  be  saved.  The  billows 
broke  continuously  over  us ;  and  we  were  expecting,  from  minute 
to  minute,  that  we  should  be  torn  from  our  hold  and  hurled  into 
the  raging  sea.  We  had  already  been  clinging  to  the  railings 
for  four  mortal  hours,  when  the  storm  began  to  subside  a  little, 
and  we  suddenly  heard  the  voice  of  one  of  our  sailors  who  had 
been  carried  off  in  the  long-boat.  An  instant  afterwards,  we 
heard  the  voices  of  the  other  two.  A  ray  of  hope  now  revived 
our  half  lifeless  frames.  Nothing  could  seem  more  certain  to  us 
than  that  the  four  seamen  were  returning  to  rescue  us  from  our 
dreadful  situation ;  but  this,  alas !  was  not  the  case.  The  long- 
boat had  not  held  out  but  a  little  while  against  the  fury  of  the 
breakers.  It  had  sunk,  carrying  down  with  it  one  of  the  sailors, 
a  negro,  who  could  not  swim.  The  others  had  saved  themselves, 
partly  by  swimming  and  partly  by  clinging  to  some  protruding 
ledges  of  the  rocks,  until  they,  at  length,  succeeded  in  getting 
hold  of  the  foremast,  and  by  means  of  it  and  the  broken  cordage, 
had  finally  reached  a  last  desperate  shelter  on  our  wreck.  Eleven 
men  were  now  clinging  to  one  frail  railing,  buried  under  the  rush- 
ing onset  of  the  billows,  and  looking  forward,  from  moment  to 
moment,  to  their  doom.      At  this  time  there  was,  indeed,  but 


OUR  RAFT. 


129 


little  further  room  for  hope,  and  the  few  minutes  we  could  com- 
mand from  our  stunned  and  breathless  condition,  were  given  up 
to  gloomy  reflections.  Now  and  then  a  star  gleamed,  for  an 
instant,  through  the  masses  of  black  clouds,  and  how  gladly  we 
hailed  in  it  the  harbinger  of  morning. 

At  length,  about  seven  o'clock,  after  we  had  been  hanging  for 
almost  eight  hours  to  the  railings,  the  storm-clouds  parted  and 
we  could  descry,  away  at  the  distance  of  some  nine  miles,  a  nar- 
row black  streak  on  the  horizon ;  this  we  instantly  knew  to  be 
land.  A  nameless  feeling  of  delight  ran  through  every  vien,  but 
immediately  the  thought,  how  impossible  it  was  to  reach  the  shore, 
made  us  again  despond.  The  fierce  billows  still  beat  over  us,  and 
although  the  wind  moderated,  the  sea  continued  in  the  most  vio 
lent  agitation.  It  may  have  been  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing,  when  we,  all  at  once,  detected  a  sail  in  the  Gulf  Stream.  It 
seemed  to  be  approaching  us,  until  we  at  length  recognized  it  to 


be  the  brig  which  had  left  Havana  in  company  with  our  own  ves- 
sel. Our  sensations,  as  it  came  nearer  and  nearer,  then  suddenly 
tacked,  and  completely  withdrew  from  our  sight,  may  be  imagined. 

6* 


130  OUR  RAFT. 

That  our  schooner  had  not  gone  to  pieces  long  ere  this,  and  that 
the  feeble  railing  still  withstood  the  weight  of  twelve  human 
beings,  was  a  wonder  upon  whose  prolongation  we  could  not  count 
for  any  great  while  to  come,  so  we  resolved  to  renew  our  attempt 
to  make  a  raft,  and  actually  succeeded  in  constructing  one  in  about 
an  hour  and  a-half.  It  was  composed  of  nine  pieces,  viz:  the 
fore-gaff,  two  spars,  and  six  larger  and  smaller  oars,  as  represent- 
ed in  the  drawing : 

Nos.  1,  2,  3,  represent  the  chicken-coop,  to  which  the  captain, 
Mr.  Creighton,  and  I,  were  lashed. 

No.  4,  the  place  where  my  colored  man  had  fastened  himself. 

No.  5,  the  place  where  the  sailor,  Jack,  stood  with  his  legs 
stretched  apart,  for  foothold. 

Nos.  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  and  11,  the  places  where  the  sailors  fixed 
themselves,  most  of  them  in  a  standing  posture. 

This,  as  is  plainly  to  be  seen,  was  a  miserably  frail  concern,  to 
bear  the  weight  of  twelve  men,  but  we  could  get  no  more  wooden 
material,  and  the  beating  of  the  sea  prevented  us  from  perfecting 
even  this  weak  raft.  It  was  loosely  put  together,  and  when  we 
got  on  it,  sank  instantly,  some  two  feet  or  more.  Most  of  us 
fastened  ourselves  firmly  to  our  seats,  for  the  rocking  motion  and 
the  violence  of  the  billows  that  tossed  us  rudely  to  and  fro,  as 
they  rose  and  fell,  would  assuredly  have  thrown  us  off.  It  was 
ten  o'clock,  when  we  finally  left  the  wreck  upon  this  raft.  The 
wind,  fortunately,  blew  towards  the  land,  or  all  hope  of  reaching 
the  latter  would  have  abandoned  us.  Our  raft  did  not  keep  in 
its  horizontal  position  one  single  moment.  It  sank  sometimes  to 
the  right,  sometimes  to  the  left ;  the  mounting  sea  frequently 
covered  us  entirely,  and  we  often  enough  prepared  ourselves  with 
a  murmured — "  Now  !  now !"  for  our  last  moment.  We  could 
not  steer  the  raft,  at  all,  but  went  as  wind  and  wave  drove  us. 
The  sailor  who  stood  at  the  point  No.  5,  was  the  only  one  who 
could  do  anything  for  us.  He  had  taken  a  blanket  and  spread  it 
out  between  his  extended  arms,  in  such  a  way  as  to  catch  the 
wind,  with  a  remark  that  made  me  smile  at  the  time. 

"  This,"  said  he,  "  is  the  first  sail  that  would  need  no  reef!" 

The  aid  this  rendered  us  was  scarcely  perceptible,  and  the 


LAND  IN  PROSPECT.  131 

reader  may  judge  how  slow  our  progress  was,  when  he  learns  that 
at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  we  were  only  half  way  between 
the  shore  and  our  wreck,  which  still  held  together.  About  five 
o'clock  we  saw  three  small  sail  coming  towards  us  from  the 
extreme  point  of  the  land.  The  distance  at  which  they  were 
from  us  rendered  it  impossible  for  us  to  attract  their  attention, 
and,  if  we  shouted  to  them,  it  was  more  from  despair  than  for 
any  reason.  It  was  with  the  greatest  risk  that  we  loosened  the 
oar  No.  8,  attached  the  red  neckcloth  of  a  sailor  to  it,  and  held  it 
aloft ;  but  all  this  was  of  no  more  use  than  our  shouting.  We 
were  neither  heard  nor  seen.  By  this  time,  our  raft  was  nearly 
three  feet  under  water.  Meanwhile  the  sea  had  become  less 
agitated,  and,  although  we  were  up  to  our  breasts  in  water,  our 
heads  were  not  so  often  washed  by  the  billows.  By  sundown, 
that  is  to  say  about  six  o'clock,  we  reckoned  that  we  were  yet 
some  three  miles  and  a  half  from  the  land.  We  supposed  the 
latter  to  be  the  coast  of  East  Florida,  off  which  lies  a  small 
island.  The  ebb  tide  was  now  altogether  against  us,  and  the 
wind,  too,  suddenly  shifted  and  blew  directly  from  the  land.  We 
all  expected  to  be  driven  out  again  to  sea ;  and,  with  heavy  hearts 
took  our  last  look  at  the  setting  sun.  The  small  sails  which  we 
had  seen  about  five  o'clock,  seemed  to  have  approached  near  to 
our  abandoned  wreck,  then  just  visible  to  us  by  the  mast  sticking 
out  of  the  water,  and  to  have  cast  anchor  in  its  close  neighbor- 
hood. It  was,  at  this  moment,  difficult  indeed  to  hold  fast  to  the 
doctrine  of  "  all  is  for  the  best !" 

The  heavy  swell  which  again  began  to  rise  made  every  attempt 
to  steer  our  raft  with  the  loosened  oar  utterly  useless,  and  the 
outspread  blanket  was  of  no  farther  use  to  us  as  the  wind  was 
blowing  off  the  land.  Night  came  on ;  some  of  our  company  had 
cramps  in  their  limbs,  and  others  were  completely  exhausted  by 
the  exertions  their  perilous  position  on  the  raft  required.  It  is 
truly  impossible  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  our  situation.  An  hour 
later,  we  were  about  three  musket  shots  distant  from  the  little 
island,  which,  as  we  afterwards  learned,  was  called  Tavernier  Key, 
Here,  we  saw  through  the  twilight,  a  wreck,  and,  as  we  thought, 
a  brigantine  and  a  large  sloop  both  at  anchor,  but  without  a 


132  WE  REACH  LAND. 

human  being  on  board.  The  island  appeared  to  be  uninhabited. 
We  made  several  attempts  to  reach  it,  but  they  were  all  fruitless, 
for  the  swell  continually  drove  us  back,  and  at  length  forced  us  down 
along  the  land,  which  we  had  at  first  taken  for  the  coast  of  Florida, 
but  which  proved  to  be  another  island  called  Large  Key.  Fortu- 
nately, the  western  point  of  this  larger  island  turned,  the  nearer  we 
came  to  it,  almost  like  a  half  moon,  southward,  and  received  the 
flood  of  the  sea  in  a  sort  of  bay,  so  that  about  ten  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  we  were  pretty  near  to  the  land.  We  measured  with 
our  steering  oar,  and  found  the  depth  of  water  not  over  four  feet. 
Upon  this,  the  sailor  Jack,  who  had  stood  at  No.  5,  left  his  place 
and  leaped  into  the  sea ;  another,  a  German  by  birth,  followed 
him,  and  these  two  men,  the  strongest,  and  consequently,  the 
least  exhausted  among  us,  drew  our  shattered  raft  to  the  shore, 
which  we,  God  be  thanked !  at  length  reached  in  safety,  a  little 
after  eleven  o'clock.  Some  of  the  sailors,  and  my  faithful  negro 
Celestin,  were  so  exhausted  that  they  could  not  leave  the  raft,  and 
had  to  be  carried  ashore,  one  after  the  other.  The  mate  and  a 
couple  of  sailors  scarcely  reached  it,  ere  they  fell  almost  lifeless 
on  the  beach.  My  colored  man  seized  my  hand,  and  had  just 
breath  enough  left  to  stammer  out,  as  he  kissed  it :  "  Oh,  master, 
if  I  had  lost  you !"  when  he  dropped  to  the  ground,  stiff  with  cold. 
I  took  him  up  in  my  arms  and  strove  to  warm  him,  for  I  had 
already  learned  from  experience,  that  the  colored  race  are  unfitted 
to  encounter  the  severities  of  cold.  A  sailor  had  tinder  in  his 
pocket,  but  it  had  got  completely  wet,  and  what  we,  at  this  mo- 
ment, would  have  preferred  to  all  the  splendors  of  the  world,  a 
real  good  fire,  we  could  not  procure.  The  shore  was  sandy  or 
rocky,  here  and  there  covered  with  some  dry  thistles,  and  formed 
but  a  hard,  uninviting  bed.  Yet  it  was  land — firm  land — upon 
which  we  stood.  This  thought  overcame  every  other  in  the  minds 
of  both  Creighton  and  myself,  and  unable  to  resist  the  weight  of  our 
fatigue  and  desire  to  sleep,  we  sank  down,  utterly  worn  out.  We 
all  lay  in  a  heap  together,  and  tried  to  warm  each  other.  I  had 
kept  hold  of  my  faithful  negro,  and  succeeded  in  restoring  him  to 
consciousness  within  a  couple  of  hours,  During  the  night,  we 
were  refreshed  in  another  way.     Some  heavy  rain  clouds  burst 


HELP  DESCRIED!  133 

above  us,  and  would  have  dispensed  a  most  delightful  coolness  to 
our  prostrate  frames,  had  we  needed  it.  The  sun  had  scarcely 
risen,  when,  to  our  inexpressible  delight,  we  saw  three  small 
wrecker  boats  at  anchor  between  Large  Key  and  Tavernier  Key. 
The  distance  was  great,  yet  these  craft  by  no  means  seemed  to  be 
beyond  our  reach.  There  was  yet  another  trial  before  us.  We 
were  just  rising  from  the  beach  to  try  whether  we  could  not  get 
nearer  to  these  boats,  when  they  suddenly  weighed  anchor  and 
put  to  sea.  Two  of  them  returned  about  an  hour  afterwards,  and 
ranged  up  near  the  sloop  which  we  had  seen  on  the  previous 
evening.  We  now  resolved  to  lose  no  time,  but  push  on  until 
we  could  get  opposite  to  these  boats,  at  a  point  from  which  we 
thought  we  could  hail  them.  We  commenced  our  journey,  but 
were  so  completely  exhausted  by  hunger,  but  more  especially 
thirst,  and  the  many  fatigues  we  had  undergone,  that  we  had  to 
rest  every  five  minutes.  Some  of  us  had  our  legs  swollen,  and 
I,  like  most  of  the  party,  was  barefooted.  We  found  ourselves 
without  any  nourishment,  as  we  had  saved  only  two  bottles  of 
wine,  as  a  restorative  for  eleven  persons,  and  there  was  not  a  dry 
stitch  on  one  of  us.  Mr.  Creighton  and  I  were  worse  off  than  the 
rest,  for  it  was  the  fourth  day  since  we  had  taken  any  food,  and 
our  tramp  of  three  miles,  along  the  shore,  contributed  no  little  to 
our  greater  exhaustion.  We  had,  at  length,  reached  a  point 
opposite  to  the  wrecker-boats.  On  the  strand  lay  a  ten  foot  pole. 
To  this  we  fastened  a  red  flannel  sailor's  shirt,  and  hoisted  it,  in 
the  hope  that  the  people  on  board  of  the  boats  would  see  us  and 
hasten  to  our  relief.  We  could  distinguish  them  plainly — even 
see  the  smoke  on  their  decks ! — they,  surely,  must  notice  us  or 
hear  our  shouts !  and  yet  they  did  not  appear  to  get  a  glimpse 
of  us  nor  to  pay  the  least  attention  to  our  repeated  hallooing. 
Three  of  our  companions  in  misfortune  had  traversed  the  island 
in  all  directions,  in  search  of  fresh  water  and  bananas.  They 
found  neither  one  nor  the  other,  and  came  back  utterly  dispirited. 
Hunger  was  gnawing  our  vitals,  and  the  fear  of  dying  by  starva- 
tion increased  in  proportion  as  our  appetites  grew  keener ;  for 
our  complete  exhaustion  had  deadened  every  other  feeling  within 


134  THE  WRECKERS. 

us.     We  all  felt  that  it  would  be  a  physical  impossibility  for  us 
to  survive  another  day  in  our  present  condition. 

It  might  have  been  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when 
Mr.  Creighton  and  I  offered  a  sailor  fifty  dollars  and  a  new  outfit, 
if  he  would  swim  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  boats,  and  inform 
their  people  of  our  situation.  Jack,  the  same  man,  who  had  on 
the  previous  day,  held  the  blanket  for  ten  hours  on  his  out- 
stretched arms,  undertook  the  desperate  task.  The  distance  was 
not  full  three  sea-miles.  I  need  hardly  describe  the  longing  anx- 
iety with  which  our  gaze  followed  him.  We  despaired  more  and 
more  of  his  success,  the  farther  he  got  from  us,  for  we  observed 
that  the  swell  incessantly  beat  him  back,  and  that  he  seemed  to 
be  tired  out.  His  head  was  scarcely  any  longer  visible  above 
the  water — only  now  and  then  we  could  just  see  a  little  speck  on 
the  surface  of  the  billows,  for  an  instant  at  a  time.  At  length, 
this  too  suddenly  disappeared.  "  Poor  Jack  !"  thought  we,  "  he 
is  gone !"  But  no ! — look  ! — There  was  Jack  on  board  of  the 
sloop,  shouting  to  the  people  of  the  boats.  We  next  saw  a  couple 
of  men  going  to  him,  and  taking  him  on  board  of  their  craft 
in  a  small  skiff.  They  then  rowed  towards  the  spot  where  we 
were.  What  we  all  felt  could  not  be  described  by  the  most 
experienced  pen,  and  only  they  could  realize  it  who  have  been 
placed  in  a  similar  situation.  The  skiff,  small  as  it  was,  took  us 
all  and  conveyed  us  to  one  of  the  two  vessels — a  craft  of  about 
eighteen  tons.  We  there  got  some  nourishment,  and  learned  that 
we  were  on  board  of  a  wrecker-boat  belonging  to  New  Providence, 
one  of  the  English  Bahama  Islands,  that  it  was  manned  by  four 
seamen  and  was  lying  off  the  Florida  coast,  in  this  direction  to 
catch  sea  turtle.  They  partly  lived  on  this  and  partly  on 
provisions  found  in  the  vessels  that  stranded  there  from  time  to 
time.  These  were  English  West-India  mariners.  The  skipper 
who  owned  the  craft  confessed  that  he  had  seen  us  on  shore  quite 
distinctly,  the  whole  morning,  but  had  pretended  that  he  did  not, 
and  under  the  persuasion  that  we  were  shipwrecked  Spaniards, 
who,  after  having  been  rescued,  would  lay  violent  hands  on  his 
craft  and  carry  her  away  to  Cuba,  as  had  occurred  not  long  before 
to  some  of  their  comrades,  would  assuredly  have  turned  a  deaf 


SAIL  FOR  CHARLESTON-.  135 

ear  to  our  cries,  had  not  Jack's  arrival  given  him  a  different  idea 
of  what  we  were.  The  rocks  on  which  our  vessel  had  been  cast 
away,  formed  the  Carysfort  Beef,  on  which  the  English  frigate 
Carysfort  was  totally  lost  writh  all  on  board,  in  the  year  1774. 

The  remainder  of  this  narrative  is  soon  told.  We  distributed 
ourselves  on  three  small  craft,  and  after  we  had  (owing  to  con- 
trary winds  which  detained  us)  cruised  in  and  out  along  the  Flor- 
ida coast,  and  among  the  islands,  catching  turtles  occasionally,  we 
made  for  Nassau,  the  seaport  of  New  Providence,  where  we  ar- 
rived on  the  6th  of  February,  the  eleventh  day  after  our  ship- 
wreck. I  landed  barefooted,  and  attired  in  a  pair  of  pantaloons 
manufactured  out  of  sail-cloth  for  me  by  our  deliverers.  The 
Solicitor-General,  a  Mr.  Armstrong,  who  recollected  my  name 
from  the  circumstance,  that  a  ship,  bound  from  New  Orleans  to 
Liverpool,  on  board  of  which  were  30,000  piastres,  sent  by  me  to 
England,  had  stopped  and  been  examined  at  New  Providence, 
and  who  had,  moreover,  known  Creighton's  family  in  England  at  an 
earlier  period,  provided  us  with  money.  We  had  to  wait  a  fort- 
night for  an  opportunity  to  embark  for  the  United  States,  since  the 
embargo  in  American  ports  had  broken  off  the  usual  frequency 
of  communications  with  the  West  Indies.  At  length,  on  the  22d 
of  February,  we  got  on  board  a  vessel  for  Charleston,  whither  a 
favorable  wind  brought  us  in  four  days.  We  took  Jack  along 
with  us,  after  giving  him  the  new  outfit  and  the  fifty  dollars  we 
had  promised  him.  Before  we  left  the  Florida  coast  we  had  em- 
ployed the  delay  occasioned  us  by  contrary  winds  to  look  about 
among  the  rocks  for  some  of  our  lost  effects,  and  had  found  the 
long  boat  that  was  swept  away ;  it  still  contained  the  body  of  the 
drowned  sailor,  who,  fastened  to  his  seat,  had  there  found  his 
death,  and  breathed  out  his  last  on  a  sack  containing  about  six 
hundred  dollars.  We  also  got  some  twenty  casks  of  coffee,  forty 
boxes  of  sugar,  and  $1,600  in  silver  coin,  from  the  wreck  of  the 
schooner;  my  trunk  was  there  too,  but  everything  had  been 
wrashed  out  of  it  excepting  a  few  shirts  and  my  copying-book. 
My  writing-desk,  with  $2,000  in  silver,  and  all  my  papers,  were 
irrevocably  lost.  From  Charleston,  my  companions  and  I  went 
overland  to  Philadelphia,  where  we  arrived  on  the  11th  of  March. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  EMBARGO  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  YEAR  1808. 

Rupture  of  communications  with  Mexico ;  the  first  and  most  important  cause 
which  influenced  the  independent  position  of  Parish,  and  became  the  source 
of  his  first  embarrassments — The  large  purchase  of  lands  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence river  was  one  of  the  next — History  of  this  purchase — Gouverneur 
Morris  and  Le  Ray  de  Chaumout  were  the  originators  of  Parish's  blindness, 
and  the  first  to  sell  property  of  such  diminutive  value — Parish  obtains  per- 
mission from  Gallatin,  the  Secretary  of  State,  notwithstanding  the  embargo, 
to  dispatch  ships  in  ballast,  and  bring  silver  dollars  from  Mexico — The  use 
made  of  this  favor  by  John  Jacob  Astor,  of  New  York — His  history — Ste- 
phen Girard,  in  Philadelphia — Girard's  history  and  career — Fracture  of  my 
right  leg  at  Wilmington — I  employ  the  retirement,  rendered  necessary  by 
this  accident,  to  strike  off  the  first  balance  of  our  great  operation. 

Upon  my  arrival  I  found  David  Parish  in  great  tribulation. 
The  embargo  suddenly  imposed,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year,  by 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  a  measure  intended  to  suspend 
all  intercourse  with  Great  Britain  for  the  time  being,  until  an  un- 
derstanding had  been  come  to  with  the  latter  power  in  relation  to 
many  disputed  questions,  such  as  the  Right  of  Search,  and  the 
taking  away  of  English  sailors  out  of  American  ships,  &c,  &c, 
was  exactly  calculated  to  produce  considerable  embarrassment  in 
the  conduct  of  our  business.  Very  important  sums  were  still 
lying  in  Vera  Cruz  and  Mexico,  and  the  departure  of  the  clippers 
for  their  transportation  to  the  United  States  was  rendered  abso- 
lutely impossible  by  the  embargo.  Again,  large  stocks  of  goods 
intended  to  be  shipped  to  Europe,  and  on  which  Parish  had  made 
very  heavy  advances,  were  locked  up  in  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
and  Baltimore.  The  whole  machine  was  brought  to  a  stand  still. 
Its  regular  progress  was  consequently  interrupted,  and,  on  the 


GOUVERNEUR  MORRTS.  137 

part  of  Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.,  some  signs  of  impatience  were  be- 
ginning to  grow  visible,  on  account  of  certain  delayed  remittances. 
This  delay  had  been  partly,  if  not  altogether,  occasioned  by  some 
circumstances  which  can  only  be  attributed  to  the  deviations  Par- 
ish had  seen  fit  to  make  from  the  regular  course  of  the  business 
intrusted  to  him,  and  which  led  to  a  cash  outlay  of  more  than 
three  quarters  of  a  million  dollars.  I  may  perhaps  be  permitted 
to  mention  only  one  of  these  circumstances,  which  had  not  been 
foreseen  or  counted  upon  in  Europe,  as  it  will  give  my  readers  a 
knowledge  of  the  origin  of  a  colossal  landed  estate,  now  become 
the  property  of  the  Parish  family,  and  situated  on  the  northwest- 
ern frontiers  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  watered  by  the  river 
St.  Lawrence. 

Among  the  old  friends  of  the  Parish  family  in  the  beginning  of 
this  century  was  counted  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  so  celebrated  as 
the  American  Ambassador  at  the  Court  of  Versailles.  He  was  a 
clear-headed  and  talented  man;  he  had  visited  Hamburgh,  and 
spent  some  time  there  with  Mr.  John  Parish,  then  Consul  for  the 
United  States  in  that  city.  He  had  returned  to  his  own  country, 
and  was  living  on  his  estate,  called  Morrisania,  on  the  East  river, 
fifteen  miles  from  New  York.  From  there  he  visited  David 
Parish,  on  the  latter's  invitation,  in  Philadelphia,  during  the  spring 
of  1807,  and  spent  a  couple  of  weeks  with  him.  Upon  this  occa- 
sion he  succeeded  in  getting  from  his  host  some  $30,000  on  bond 
and  mortgage  on  his  possessions  lying  along  the  St.  Lawrence  river. 
Some  months  later,  after  his  return  to  Morrisania,  Mr.  Gouverneur 
Morris  wrote  a  pamphlet  on  the  present  value  of  landed  property 
on  the  north-western  frontiers  of  New  York,  and  the  gradual  pros- 
pective increase  of  the  same,  and  dedicated  this  effusion  of  his  pen 
to  his  friend  David  Parish.  At  the  same  time  the  latter  received 
an  invitation  to  go  on  a  visit  with  Mr.  Morris  to  these  valuable 
tracts  of  land  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year.  This  was  also  done. 
Soon  afterwards,  Gouverneur  Morris  again  visited  his  friend  Parish 
in  Philadelphia,  where  the  former  lifted  his  mortgage  by  the  sale 
of  the  whole  property,  at  the  rate  of  two  dollars  an  acre,  Parish 
paying  down  an  additional  sum  of  $20,000. 

In  the  fall  of  1808  Parish  once  more  visited  the  shores  of  the 


138  PARISH'S  LOSSES. 

St.  Lawrence,  and  bought  about  100,000  acres,  at  the  average 
price  of  two  dollars  an  acre,  from  a  Frenchman  named  Le  Ray  de 
Chaumont,  who  had  been  settled  there  for  many  years,  and  from 
one  of  the  branches  of  the  Ogden  family,  and  their  representative 
David  B.  Ogden,  one  of  the  first  lawyers  in  New  York,  the  whole 
borough  of  Ogdensburgh,  now  the  seat  of  Mr.  George  Parish,  the 
second  son  of  the  Mr.  Richard  Parish  at  present  residing  in  Nien- 
steden,  for  about  $9,000.  The  new  owner  thereupon  commenced 
operations,  by  going  to  work  to  import  three  thousand  merino 
sheep  from  Spain,  so  as  to  make  use  of  a  large  part  of  the  locality, 
which  was  pretty  well  known  to  consist  of  soil  in  the  highest  de- 
gree unproductive,  and  chiefly  covered  with  stones  or  rocks,  but, 
as  Le  Ray  de  Chaumont  and  consorts  explained  to  Parish,  was  an 
exact  repetition  of  the  Spanish  district  where  the  merino  sheep 
yield  the  most  perfect  wool.  Parish  was  so  possessed  with  this 
idea,  that  upon  a  little  excursion  we  made  together,  on  the  way 
to  Baltimore,  to  purchase  a  pair  of  horses,  as  we  passed  by  a 
stretch  of  stony  land,  and  saw  some  merino  sheep  skipping  about 
over  it,  he  exclaimed  to  me,  in  great  glee,  "  Look !  look  there, 
Nolte  !  how  they  jump  about !  they  yield  splendid  wool !" 

I  am  writing  down  this  narrative  chiefly  as  extracted  from  my 
memory,  after  the  lapse  of  forty-four  years,  and  consequently 
cannot,  so  far  as  the  accuracy  of  numbers  is  concerned,  set  down 
all  with  the  closest  precision ;  but  what  I  can  affirm  is,  that  the 
whole  amount  expended  by  Parish  for  this  purpose,  up  to  the 
spring  of  1809,  was  close  upon  $363,000.  The  reader  will  find 
the  assurance  of  this  in  the  subsequent  pages. 

Of  the  two  other  causes  of  Parish's  sudden  deficiency  of  funds, 
in  the  very  middle  of  the  superabundance  justly  represented  by 
him  previously,  to  the  firm  in  Amsterdam,  I  shall,  in  a  few  words, 
touch  upon  that  one  only  which  resulted  from  the  failing  condition 
of  the  house  of  Guest  &  Banker,  importers,  in  Philadelphia.  Parish 
had  discounted  their  acceptances  to  the  amount  of  $70,000,  and 
en-portefeuille :  and  since  the  combination  that  was  made,  in  order 
to  save  this  capital,  would  not  essentially  contribute  to  the  better 
understanding  of  the  then  existing  state  of  affairs,  I  suppress  it  in 
this  place,  not  however  without  taking  occasion  to  remark,  that  it 


THE  EMBARGO.  130 

only  yields  a  proof  the  more  of  the  elastic  nature  of  mercantile 
consciences  in  general,  and  of  the  resources  possessed  by  a  deeply 
calculating  mind,  fruitful  in  expedients,  but  that  before  the  tribu 
nal  of  strict  morality,  it  could  hardly  receive  an  unconditional  ab- 
solution. 

Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.  were  counting  upon  important  remit- 
tances, when,  all  at  once,  they  received  drafts  from  David  Parish 
for  a  very  considerable  sum,  which  had  been  raised  by  him  for  his 
relief  when  his  own  cash  box  had  become  exhausted.  The  protest 
designated  the  cause  of  the  refused  acceptance  in  the  words,  "  On 
account  of  not  having  been  notified"  :  the  bills,  however,  were 
paid. 

When,  fifteen  months  later,  I  was  conversing  about  this  circum- 
stance with  Mr.  P.  C.  Labouchere,  and  remarked,  with  regret,  that 
it  had  been  calculated  to  damage  Parish's  position,  he  replied,  "  I 
only  wanted  to  remind  Parish  that  he  is  not  the  unconditional 
master  to  make  use  of  our  funds  just  as  he  may  see  fit,  but  nothing 
more  than  a  mere  partner,  in  a  certain  business,  under  well  un- 
derstood conditions.     We  intended  to  pay  the  bills  any  how." 

The  embargo  made  itself  doubly  felt,  not  only  through  the  im- 
possibility of  shipping  off  the  enormous  stocks  of  goods  upon 
which  Parish  had  made  advances,  and  which  he  held  under  lock 
and  key,  but  also  through  the  no  less  absolute  impossibility  of 
dispatching  the  fast  sailing  schooners  to  Vera  Cruz,  to  bring  away 
the  ready  coin  deposited  there.  Parish,  however,  understood  the 
means  of  remedying  this  evil.  He  repaired  to  Washington,  had 
an  interview  with  Albert  Gallatin,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
— a  man  distinguished  for  his  intelligence  and  experience — and 
convinced  him,  that  even  if  the  policy  of  the  government  required 
that  the  exportation  of  American  products  should  be  prevented 
by  an  embargo,  it  still  could  not  possibly  be  a  wise  course  to 
take  from  the  United  States  the  means  of  bringing  home,  from 
foreign  countries,  the  sums  due  to  them  in  silver,  and  that  with 
this  latter  view,  and  for  this  purpose,  it  would  be  an  excellent 
measure  to  permit  the  departure  of  vessels  in  ballast.  The  Secre- 
tary Df  the  Treasury  saw  the  force  of  this  reasoning,  and  at  once, 
upon  his  own  responsibility,  gave  the  collectors  of  the  different 


140  JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR. 

Atlantic  ports  full  authority  to  allow  the  departure  of  such  vessels 
In  this  way  the  outstanding  sums  expected  from  Mexico  at  length 
arrived,  and  towards  the  close  of  the  same  summer  Villanueva, 
who  had  also  accomplished  his  mission,  left  his  late  residence  at 
Vera  Cruz,  and  came,  under  his  real  name,  Lestapis,  to  the  States, 
where  he  took  up  his  temporary  abode,  at  Germantown,  five 
miles  from  Philadelphia. 

The  argument  which  Parish  had  made  use  of  with  Mr.  Gallatin, 
for  the  purpose  of  procuring  permission  to  send  out  ships  in  bal- 
last, to  bring  back  sums  of  money  from  abroad  that  were  due  in 
the  United  States,  had  found  favor  in  the  eyes  of  a  man  who  had 
distinguished  himself  from  the  mass  of  German  immigrants  by 
his  important  successes,  his  speculative  spirit,  and  his  great 
wealth,  and  had  won  a  certain  celebrity.  This  man  was  John 
Jacob  Astor,  the  founder  of  the  American  colony  of  Astoria,  on 
the  northern  coast  of  the  Pacific  ocean,  which  has  been  so  graph- 
ically and  picturesquely  described  by  the  pen  of  Washington 
Irving.  Astor  was  born  at  Heidelberg,  where  the  original  name 
of  his  family  is  said  to  have  been  Aschthor,  and  had  come  to  New 
York  as  a  furrier's  apprentice.  His  first  savings,  that  is  to  say, 
the  wages  he  got  in  the  peltry  warehouse,  for  beating  out  and 
preparing  bear,  doe,  and  other  skins,  he  invested  in  the  purchase 
of  all  kinds  of  peltry,  bear,  mink,  and  rabbit  skins,  which  he  got 
from  the  Indians,  who  at  that  time  wandered  about  the  streets  of 
New  York  ;  and  so  soon  as  he  had  collected  a  certain  quantity,  he 
sent  them  to  Europe,  particularly  to  the  Leipsic  fair.  There  he 
traded  them  off  for  Nuremburg  wares,  cheap  knives,  glass  beads, 
and  other  articles  adapted  to  traffic  with  the  Indians  on  the  Cana- 
dian frontiers,  and  took  them  himself  to  the  latter  points,  where 
he  again  exchanged  them  for  furs  of  various  kinds.  As  he  has 
often  told  me,  with  his  own  lips,  he  carried  on  this  traffic  untir- 
ingly for  twelve  long  years,  going  in  person,  alternately,  to  the 
Canadian  frontiers,  and  then  to  the  Leipsic  fair,  and  lived  all  the 
while,  as  he  had  ever  been  accustomed  to  do,  humbly  and  spar- 
ingly. At  length  he  had  managed  to  bring  together  a  considera- 
cle  capital,  and  gradually  became  a  freighter  of  ships,  and  fitted 
out  expeditions  to  the  Northwest  Coast,  to  trade  with  the  Indians 


JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR.  141 

of  Nootka  Sound  for  furs.  Another  circumstance  contributed  to 
the  increase  of  his  means.  At  the  peace  concluded  in  1783,  be- 
tween England  and  her  revolted  provinces,  the  thirteen  United 
States,  many  acres  of  land  in  the  State  of  New  York,  some  even 
in  the  neighborhood  of  New  York  city,  were  voted  by  Congress  to 
the  German  soldiers  who  had  fought  in  the  American  army.  The 
latter  were  chiefly  Hessians  and  Darmstadters.  Most  of  them  died 
in  the  course  of  the  year,  without  having  succeeded  in  converting 
this  property  into  money  ;  but  the  relatives  and  heirs  they  left  be- 
hind them  in  Germany  did  not  forget  these  little  inheritances.  Upon 
the  occasion  of  a  visit  made  by  Astor  to  Heidelberg,  in  later 
years,  most  of  the  parties  last  referred  to,  as  inheriting  the  allot- 
ments of  the  deceased  German  soldiers,  and  residing  in  Heidel- 
berg, united  and  made  our  friend  their  legally  authorized  attorney, 
In  order  to  realize  something,  if  possible,  from  their  hitherto  use- 
less acres.  But  the  hoped  for  increase  of  the  value  of  this  prop- 
erty was,  on  the  whole,  rather  slow  in  coming,  and  the  heirs 
wanted  money,  money,  quick  and  ready  money.  Astor  having 
been  applied  to  on  this  score,  told  them  that,  in  order  to  get 
ready  money,  they  must  reckon  up  the  real  present  value  of  the 
cash  itself,  and  not  any  imagined  value  of  the  land,  and  that  only 
through  pretty  considerable  sacrifice  could  they  get  cash  for  the 
same.  Thereupon  the  parties  advised  with  each  other,  and  finally 
Astor  received  peremptory  orders  to  sell,  without  further  delay. 
Unknown  speculators  were  found ;  the  proceeds  were  small,  but  the 
heirs  got  what  they  wanted — money.  At  the  present  day,  many 
of  these  pieces  of  ground  are  among  the  most  valuable  and  most 
important  in  the  city,  and  have  gradually  passed  through  Astor 
into  other  hands :  the  unknown  speculators,  however,  have  faded 
from  the  memory  of  everybody. 

Astor,  at  the  moment  of  the  embargo,  was  in  the  possession 
of  several  millions,  so  that  he  was  able  to  give  his  son,  William  B. 
Astor,  who  was  educated  at  Gottingen,  the  magnificent  hotel  on 
Broadway  called  the  "Astor  House,"  which  cost  the  sum  of 
$800,000. 

The  permission  (procured  by  Parish)  to  send  out  ships  in  bal 
last,  to  bring  home  silver,  had  given  Astor  the  idea  that  the  same 


142  JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR. 

privilege  might  be  extended  to  vessels  dispatched  for  the  purpose 
of  bringing  home  the  amount  of  debts  due  abroad,  in  goods. 
With  this  view  he  went  to  Washington,  and  there,  under  the  pre- 
tence that  he  had  an  important  depot  of  teas  at  Canton,  obtained 
the  desired  permission  to  send  a  vessel  thither  in  ballast.  This 
step,  however,  was  only  the  forerunner  of  another  one.  Astor,  in 
reality,  owned  no  depot  of  teas  at  Canton,  and  hence  it  simply 
came  to  this,  that  he  would,  according  to  the  usual  custom,  send 
money  thither  to  purchase  the  article. 

The  exceptional  favor  of  sending  schooners  in  ballast  to  Vera 
Cruz,  which  Parish  had  up  to  this  time  enjoyed,  but  which  was 
now  gradually  extended  to  other  vessels,  whose  destination  was 
not  to  bring  back  gold  and  silver  values,  but  goods  on  American 
account,  sufficiently  showed  that,  under  certain  circumstances, 
there  was  no  indisposition  to  grant  free  exit  to  ships  in  ballast  for  a 
particular  object.  And  now  arose  another  point,  namely,  whether 
empty  vessels,  which,  however,  had  silver  on  board,  could  be  re- 
garded as  in  ballast.  The  precious  metals  are,  in  most  countries, 
not  looked  upon  as  wares,  although  in  some  they  are  so  classified. 
It  was  not  exactly  advisable  to  bring  on  a  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion, whether  the  exportation  of  silver  in  otherwise  unladen  vessels 
should  depend  upon  it  or  not.  The  query  was,  whether  a  foreign 
creditor,  who  had  come  to  collect  the  moneys  owed  him  by  Ameri- 
can merchants,  would  be  permitted  to  take  the  funds  really  thus 
received  back  with  him.  In  Washington,  there  appeared  to  be 
every  disposition  to  allow  this.  Now  it  was  well  known,  in  the 
northern  ports  of  the  United  States,  that  the  leading  native  mer- 
chants of  Canton  had  never  hesitated  to  accord  their  regular  cor- 
respondents, returning  year  out  and  year  in,  from  the  United 
States,  certain  credits  which  amounted  to  considerable  sums. 
Upon  this  Astor  based  his  plan.  He  hunted  up,  among  the  Chi- 
nese sailors,  or  Lascars,  on  the  ships  lately  arriving  from  China, 
a  fellow  suited  to  his  purpose,  dressed  him  as  a  Mandarin,  and  took 
him  with  him  to  Washington,  where  he  had  to  play  the 
part  of  the  Chinese  creditor,  under  the  name  of  Hong-Qua,  or 
Kina-Holu.  No  one  dreamed  of  suspecting  the  Mandarin's  iden- 
tity, and  Astor  pushed  his  scheme  safely  through.     The  $200,000 


JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR.  143 

he  sent  to  Canton  were  expended  there  in  tea  and  other  Chinese 
articles,  and  within  a  year  afterwards  returned  in  that  shape  to 
Astor's  hands,  and  were  used  by  him  to  excellent  account.  A 
stroke  of  skill  had  been  achieved,  whose  morality  no  one  in  the 
United  States  doubted  for  a  moment. 

Astor  has  left  a  fortune  of  about  $12,000,000,  chiefly  to  his 
only  son.  His  mind  was  incessantly  busied  with  the  increase  of 
his  resources,  and  had  no  other  direction.  He  was  compelled,  by 
a  physical  infirmity,  to  repair  to  Paris,  where  he  could  avail  him- 
self of  the  skilful  assistance  of  Baron  Dupuytren.  The  latter 
thoroughly  restored  him,  and  advised  him  to  ride  out  every  day. 
He  frequently  took  occasion  himself  to  accompany  his  patient  on 
these  rides.  One  day — and  this  anecdote  I  have  from  the  Baron's 
own  mouth — when  riding,  he  appeared  by  no  means  disposed  to 
converse ;  not  a  word  could  be  got  out  of  him :  and  at  length 
Dupuytren  declared,  that  he  must  be  suffering  from  some  secret 
pain  or  trouble,  when  he  would  not  speak.  He  pressed  him, 
and  worried  him,  until  finally  Astor  loosed  his  tongue — "  Look 
ye !  Baron !"  he  said ;  "  How  frightful  this  is !  I  have  here,  in 
the  hands  of  my  banker,  at  Paris,  about  2,000,000  francs,  and 
cannot  manage,  without  great  effort,  to  get  more  than  2J  per 
cent,  per  annum  on  it.  Now,  this  very  day  I  have  received  a 
letter  from  my  son  in  New  York,  informing  me  that  there  the 
best  acceptances  are  at  from  1|  to  2  per  cent,  per  month.  Is  it 
not  enough  to  enrage  a  man?" 

I  cannot  let  this  opportunity  slip  by  without  saying  something 
about  another  mercantile  celebrity  of  the  United  States,  viz. : 
Stephen  Girard.  This  man  was  born  in  a  village  near  the  banks 
of  the  Garonne.  He  was  the  son  of  a  peasant,  and  had  left  his 
own  country  as  a  common  sailor.  Having  gradually  risen  to  the 
post  of  second  mate,  he  came  as  such  to  Philadelphia,  where  he 
remained,  and  opened  a  tavern  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  for 
such  of  his  countrymen  as  were  engaged  in  the  West  India  trade, 
particularly  that  with  St.  Domingo.  The  revolution  in  St.  Do- 
mingo  caused  an  emigration  which  continually  brought  him  fresh 
customers,  and,  having  built  some  small  vessels  to  bring  his 
fugitive  countrymen  away  in  safety  from  the  island,  he  bartered 


144  STEPHEN  GIRARD. 

flour  and  meal  for  coffee,  until  his  capital,  which  had  been  scarcely 
worth  mentioning  at  first,  gradually  increased,  and  enabled  him 
to  build  larger  vessels,  and  extend  his  spirit  of  enterprise  in  all 
directions.  His  frugality  bordered  on  avarice.  Sailors'  fare  was 
to  him  the  best,  and  the  freighting  of  vessels  his  favorite  pursuit. 
The  success  which  attended  his  exertions  at  length  became  unex- 
ampled ;  for  he  never  had  his  ships  insured,  but  always  chose 
skilful  and  experienced  Captains,  thus  saving  himself  the  heavy 
expense  of  taking  out  insurance  policies,  and  continued  acting  on 
this  principle,  gradually  increasing  his  capital,  more  and  more, 
until  it  had  finally  swelled  to  an  enormous  amount.  Illiterate, 
as  a  French  common  sailor  must  needs  be,  and  scarcely  able  to 
write  his  own  name,  he  called  all  his  ships  after  the  great  authors 
of  his  native  country,  and  thus  enjoyed  the  sensation  of  beholding 
the  American  flag  waving  above  a  Montesquieu,  a  Voltaire,  a 
Helvetius,  and  a  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau.  His  ships,  which  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  sending  successively  to  the  island  of  Mauritius, 
at  that  time  the  Isle  de  France,  to  Calcutta,  and  Canton,  and  each 
of  which  cost  from  forty  to  sixty  thousand  dollars,  brought  back 
cargoes  worth  from  one  to  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  to 
Philadelphia,  and  thence  to  Europe,  particularly  to  Messrs.  Hope 
&  Co.,  at  Amsterdam,  and  were  never  insured.  Remarkable 
good  fortune  attended  all  these  enterprises.  Until  the  year  1815, 
not  one  of  his  ships  was  ever  lost  or  captured.  It  will  be  easy  to 
form  an  idea  of  the  amount  of  capital  accumulated  by  this  saving 
of  insurance  premiums,  when  one  reflects  that  the  latter  went  as 
high  as  from  ten  to  fifteen,  and  even  twenty  per  cent. 

Girard's  right  hand  was  a  countryman  of  his,  named  Roberjeot, 
who,  however,  had  received  his  mercantile  education  entirely  at 
Hamburgh,  under  the  tutelage  of  Professor  Busch.  This  Rober- 
jeot was  the  only  man  whom  he  now  and  then,  but  no  oftener 
than  now  and  then,  took  into  his  especial  confidence,  and  he  had 
worked  in  the  house  of  Girard,  for  a  respectable,  yet  very  mode- 
rate salary,  during  the  lapse  of  twenty  years ;  frequently  some- 
thing was  said  about  increasing  it,  but  nothing  of  the  sort  was 
ever  done.  Roberjeot,  who  had  some  desire  to  be  taken  care  of 
in  his  old  age,  resolved  to  let  his  patron  know  that  if  he  desired 


STEPHEN  GIRARD.  14. 

to  keep  him  any  longer,  he  must  take  that  matter  into  serious 
consideration,  and  give  him  a  handsome  sum,  that  he  might  put 
aside  and  turn  to  good  account.  Girard,  a  little  nettled  by  this, 
replied  that  he  would  give  him  ten  thousand  dollars,  but  Rober- 
jeot  demanded  sixty.  He  was  told  to  wait  until  the  next  day, 
when,  without  hearing  another  word  in  relation  to  the  matter,  he 
received  what  he  had  asked  for — Sixty  Thousand  Dollars. 

Magnanimous  as  Girard  could  be  in  many  things,  he  was,  on 
the  other  hand,  equally  petty  in  many  others.  Of  his  numerous 
relatives  in  France,  who  were  all  poor  peasant  folks,  he  would 
never  hear  a  syllable  mentioned.  When  some  of  them,  upon  one 
occasion,  ventured  to  cross  the  ocean,  and  visit  him  in  Philadel 
phia,  he  immediately  sent  them  away  again,  with  a  trifling  present. 
In  one  particular  instance,  he  exhibited  unusual  hard-heartedness. 
His  captains  had  received  the  strictest  orders  not  to  bring  either 
strange  goods,  passengers  or  letters  back  with  them.  One  of  his 
ships  was  returning  from  Bordeaux,  and  through  another,  which 
had  hurried  on  before  it,  he  learned  that  it  was  conveying  him 
some  relations  of  his  as  passengers ;  he  instantly  sent  to  New- 
castle, on  the  Delaware,  where  the  ships  coming  in  from  sea 
usually  touch,  an  order  to  the  Captain,  forbidding  him  to  land  any 
passengers,  but  to  remain  at  that  point  until  another  had  been 
procured  to  take  them  back  to  Bordeaux,  when  he  might  come 
up  to  Philadelphia  with  his  cargo.  The  Captain  was  then  re- 
placed by  another  person.  He,  however,  made  an  exception  in 
favor  of  two  nieces,  the  orphaned  daughters  of  a  brother  who  had 
died  in  poverty.  He  allowed  these  girls  to  come  to  him,  and 
gave  one  of  them  permission,  along  with  some  twenty  thousand 
dollars,  to  marry  the  brother  of  General  Lallemant,  who  had 
emigrated  to  America  upon  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  after 
the  battle  of  Waterloo.  In  his  will,  he  bequeathed  to  the  other 
an  equal  sum. 

He  learned  a  sharp  lesson  from  his  favorite  correspondents  in 
Europe,  Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.,  of  Amsterdam,  who  possessed  ftis 
entire  confidence.  Notwithstanding  the  reliance  he  placed  in 
them,  he  had  sent  a  Quaker,  by  the  name  of  Hutchinson,  to  Am- 
sterdam,  with   explicit   instructions   to   watch   those   gentlemen 

7 


146  STEPHEN  GIRARD: 

closely,  and  see  that  they  accounted  for  the  real  prices  received 
by  them  for  his  consignments,  &c,  &c.  It  was  a  rule,  in  the 
house  of  Messrs.  Hope,  to  compute  one-eighth  per  cent,  more 
than  the  daily  noted  rate  of  exchange,  when  sending  the  regular 
receipts  to  bank,  and  this  was  done  to  cover  a  variety  of  minute 
office  expenses,  which  could  not  be  brought  into  a  stated  account. 
Thus,  for  instance :  Mr.  Hutchinson  was  informed  that  they  had 
sold  a  thousand  bags  of  coffee,  from  the  cargo  of  the  ship  Voltaire, 
at  so  and  so  much  per  cent.  Hereupon,  that  gentleman  came, 
next  day,  to  the  counting-room,  and  interrupted  Mr.  Labouchere 
in  his  meditations,  and,  running  his  finger  along  the  printed  price- 
current  he  held  in  his  hand,  pointed  out  to  him  that  the  rate  must 
be  put  at  one-eighth  per  cent.  less.  The  oft-repeated  hints  Mr. 
Labouchere  had  given  the  young  Quaker,  who  invariably  came  in 
with  his  hat  on  his  head,  and,  without  permission,  marched  directly 
up  to  the  door,  and  pushed  on  into  the  private  counting-room — 
the  sanctum  sanctorum  of  Dutch  merchants — had  all  proved  of 
no  avail :  at  last  they  got  to  let  him  stand  there,  without  paying 
any  attention  to  what  he  had  to  say.  He  then  wrote  to  Philadel- 
phia to  his  principal,  who  dictated,  for  his  benefit,  the  most  offen- 
sive letters  to  Messrs.  Hope,  which  finally  decided  the  latter  to  let 
him  know  at  once,  that  there  existed  so  wide  a  difference  between 
their  ways  of  doing  business  and  his,  and  all  attempts  to  teach  him 
better  had  so  signally  failed,  that,  for  the  sake  of  their  own  com- 
fort and  tranquillity,  they  should  be  compelled  to  decline  any 
further  transactions  with  him.  There  then  came  a  kind  of  apol- 
ogy, a  promise  to  manage  differently  in  future,  &c.,  &c.  But  the 
house  in  Amsterdam  remained  firm  in  the  resolution  they  had 
taken,  offering,  however,  to  do  him  the  favor  of  recommending  to 
him,  as  his  future  correspondents,  Messrs.  Daniel  Crommelin  & 
Sons,  their  neighbors.  The  astonishment  of  these  latter  gentle- 
men themselves,  when  the  first  important  consignments  began  to 
reach  them  from  Girard,  and  the  surprise  of  the  whole  Bourse  of 
Amsterdam,  that  any  one  could  reject  such  business  as  his,  re- 
quiring no  advances,  may  be  readily  conceived. 

The  Messrs.  Hope  had,  after  the  annexation  of  Holland  to  the 
Empire,  withdrawn,  or  rather  had  in  a  measure  been  compelled 


HIS  RUPTURE  WITH  HOPE  &  CO.  147 

to  withdraw,  from  all  trade  in  goods  and  wares,  since  the  famous 
Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  of  Napoleon  had  thrown  great  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  trade,  and  much  impaired  the  security  of  commer- 
cial intercourse.  However,  when,  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  in 
1814,  Holland  again  obtained  her  independence,  and  the  house  of 
Messrs.  Hope,  having  been  established  on  a  new  basis,  resumed 
its  former  rank,  Girard  was  anxious  to  renew  the  connexion  which 
had  been  interrupted  for  several  years.  Upon  this  occasion  the 
assurance  was  once  more  given,  that  the  style  of  correspondence 
to  be  carried  on  between  the  two  houses  should  be  altogether 
changed.  But  Mr.  Labouchere  was  not  accustomed  to  alter  his 
tone.  He  took  the  pen  in  his  own  hand,  and  replied  to  the  desire 
expressed  by  Mr.  Girard,  with  the  regret  that  he  could  not  con- 
sent, feeling  convinced  that  the  latter  gentleman  might  indeed 
reform  his  language,  but  not  his  principles,  and  that  hence  the 
best  course  would  be  to  regard  the  acquaintance  as  having  termi- 
nated. 

Mr.  Jerome  Sillem,  who  had  just  entered  the  firm  of  Messrs. 
Hope,  objected,  that  this  was  going  too  far ;  he  had,  personally, 
nothing  against  Girard,  and  so  lucrative  a  business  as  his  was  not 
to  be  wantonly  thrown  away.  Mr.  Labouchere,  unhesitatingly  re- 
plied, that  even  if  he  (Mr.  Sillem)  had  nothing  to  say  against 
Girard,  the  house  of  Hope  was  not,  on  that  account,  bound  to 
change  its  views,  or  relinquish  anything  of  its  dignity,  and  that  he 
(Sillem)  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  an  admission  into  the  firm  only 
under  the  condition  that  he  would  sustain  its  well-known  princi- 
ples. In  a  private  conversation  that  soon  afterwards  occurred, 
between  Mr.  Labouchere  and  myself,  I  could  not  avoid  remark 
ing,  that  I  was  inclined  to  agree  with  Mr.  Sillem,  since  Girard 
had,  to  some  extent,  apologized,  &c,  &c.  I  now  give  his  reply,  so 
as  to  leave  no  gap  in  my  characteristic  sketch  of  this  remarkable 
man.  He  said  to  me,  "You  may  rest  assured,  Mr.  Nolte,  that 
this  refusal  will  do  the  house  of  Hope  more  honor,  and,  by  its 
result,  eventually,  more  good,  than  all  it  could  have  gained  from 
these  fine  transactions  with  Mr.  Girard."  Hereupon  I  turned  the 
subject,  and  kept  my  own  opinion  to  myself,  with  the  conviction 
that  the  honorable  part  of  this  refusal  could  not  be  anywhere 


148  GIRARD  AND  BARING. 

denied ;  but  that,  in  regard  to  its  effects  upon  the  trading  commu- 
nity in  the  United  States,  Mr.  Labouchere  was  indulging  an  illu- 
sion, if  he  were  really  expressing  his  true  opinion,  which,  by  the 
way,  I  had  no  reason  to  doubt. 

Girard  also  belonged  to  the  list  of  the  best  American  corres- 
pondents of  the  Barings,  in  London ;  and  when  one  of  the  head 
partners  of  that  house,  Francis  Baring,  the  second  son  of  Lord 
Ashburton,  visited  Philadelphia,  his  birthplace,  in  the  year 
1818,  he  called  at  the  counting-room  of  Mr.  Girard,  whom  he, 
however,  did  not  find  there  at  the  time.  Mr.  Roberjeot,  the 
already-mentioned  oldest  clerk  in  that  establishment,  told  him, 
that  if  he  wanted  to  see  Mr.  Girard  himself,  he  must  visit  him 
early  in  the  morning,  at  his  large  farm,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
city.  Baring  went  to  the  place  indicated,  asked  for  Mr.  Girard, 
and  received  the  reply,  "  Yonder  he  stands  !"  They  pointed  out 
to  him  a  small,  low-set  man,  of  about  sixty,  with  gray  hair,  bare- 
headed, without  coat  or  jacket,  and  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  rolled  up 
above  the  elbows,  who  stood  with  a  hay-fork  in  his  hand,  helping 
to  load  hay  on  a  farm-wagon.  He  said,  "  Is  that  Mr.  Girard  V 
"  Yes,"  they  answered ;  whereupon  he  stepped  up  to  him,  and 
gave  his  name.  "  So,  so  !"  remarked  Girard  ;  "  then  you  are  the 
son  of  the  man  that  got  married  here  %  Well,  now,  I  am  very 
glad  to  see  you,  but  I  have  no  time  to  talk  with  you  at  present ; 
it  is  harvest-time,  and  I  have  a  great  deal  to  do.  There,  walk 
around  yonder  a  little,  look  at  my  cows,  and  get  some  of  the  folks 
to  give  you  a  glass  of  milk,  for  you  can't  get  such  milk  in  all  Lon- 
don !"  Mr.  Girard  was  perfectly  right.  The  London  milk  is  notori- 
ously the  vilest  beverage  in  the  world  that  bears  the  name.  Baring 
complied  with  this  blunt  invitation ;  and  as  he  himself  was  an  ec 
centric,  and,  consequently,  liked  eccentrics,  he  was  wonderfully 
tickled  with  the  thought  of  what  a  curious  reception  this  was,  for 
one  of  the  heads  of  the  first  house  in  London  to  meet  with,  at  the 
hands  of  one  who  stood  at  the  head  of  the  first  house  in  America. 

I  will  now  return,  after  making  a  leap  of  some  ten  years,  to 
the  summer  of  1808,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  time  when  Parish  was 
waiting  for  his  merino  sheep,  and  hoped  to  gather  in  the  first-fruits 
of  his  newly  purchased  lands. 


A  BREAKDOWN  AND  A  BROKEN  LEG.  140 

I  had  left  him  in  Baltimore,  and  had  returned,  by  way  of  Havre 
de  Grace,  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna  river,  through  Wil- 
mington, to  Philadelphia.  I  had  there  seen  a  horse  excellently 
suited  to  drive  in  tandem  with  the  one  that  drew  my  gig.  The 
next  day  I  inspected  him,  and  concluded  what  I  considered  a 
lucky  bargain,  in  purchasing  him.  The  result,  however,  proved 
anything  but  fortunate  for  me.  I  had  driven  to  the  top  of  Bran- 
dywine  Hill,  when  my  new  horse  took  fright,  and  dashed  off  at  a 
gallop,  the  second  one  following  him  down  the  hill,  rearing  and 
plunging  with  his  fore  and  hind  legs,  until,  near  the  bridge  that 
crosses  the  Delaware,  his  head-gearings  gave  way,  and  he  stum- 
bled and  fell.  At  this  moment  I  leaped  from  the  gig  and  broke 
my  right  leg,  so  that  my  foot  hung  to  it  only  by  the  skin.  In 
this  condition  I  remained  prostrate  on  the  road,  where  my  colored 
man,  whom  I  had  caused  to  alight  to  bring  the  leader  back  into 
the  right  road,  when  he  first  became  unruly,  at  length  ran  up  to 
my  assistance,  and  called  some  people  around  us.  They  then 
made  me  a  litter,  and  carried  me  to  the  nearest  public  house  in 
Wilmington.  The  good  people  of  the  tavern,  in  their  first  alarm, 
hastily  summoned  the  two  best  surgeons  in  the  place,  namely,  a 
doctor  Smith  and  a  doctor  James  Tilton,*  a  couple  of  very  un- 
skilful and  inexperienced  persons,  notwithstanding  their  great 
reputation.  These  two  men  stood  at  the  head  of  the  political  par- 
ties of  their  village ;  Dr.  Smith  as  a  thorough-going  Federalist, 
and  Dr.  Tilton  as  a  great  admirer  of  Jefferson,  and  consequently 
a  democrat.  They  had  not  for  a  long  time  exchanged  a  word  with 
each  other,  but  had  mutually  cherished  a  most  hearty  hatred,  and 
were  now,  by  chance,  brought  together  at  the  foot  of  my  bed,  in 
a  little  room  of  a  very  miserable  tavern.  These  two  men,  who 
had  for  a  long  series  of  years  lived  in  hostility  with  each  other, 
and  had  never  been  able  to  agree,  in  regard  to  matters  of  civil 
and  local  government,  were,  upon  this  occasion,  of  the  same  mind, 
in  relation  to  one  point,  which  had  particular  reference  to  myself, 

*  Four  years  afterwards,  when  the  war  with  England  began,  this  man  was 
appointed  head  surgeon  of  all  the  field  hospitals,  but  betrayed  such  incapacity 
that  he  had  to  be  dismissed.  The  American  government-organ  of  that  period 
referred  to  this  dismissal,  and  gave  the  reasons  for  it 


150  DOCTOR  PHYSIC. 

and  which,  consequently,  interested  me  to  the  last  degree.  After 
they  had  turned  my  leg  over  and  over,  and  examined  it,  they  con- 
cluded that,  as  the  dog-days  were  drawing  on,  and  the  extreme 
heat  would,  in  their  opinion,  produce  lockjaw,  and  place  my  life 
in  danger,  my  leg  must  be  amputated.  When  they  informed  me 
of  this  decision,  and  immediately  began  to  prepare  for  the  opera- 
tion, I  declared  to  them  that  I  would  not  submit  to  it  in  any  case, 
and  that  they  must  run  the  risk  of  resetting  my  limb,  come  of  it 
what  would.  This  latter  course  was  adopted  as  I  requested,  but 
the  operation  was  conducted  in  very  unskilful  style,  and  according 
to  the  old  fashion,  with  the  use  of  splints  and  bandages.  On  the 
second  day  after  the  bandaging,  my  pain  was  so  excessive,  that  I 
looked  about  me  earnestly  for  some  means  of  procuring  allevia- 
tion and  assistance.  All  at  once  a  well-known  face  appeared  in 
my  chamber ;  it  was  a  Hamburgher,  the  son  of  a  French  teacher 
of  languages,  called  Virchaux,  whom  I  recollected  to  have  often 
seen  in  Hamburgh.  On  his  way  to  Baltimore,  where  he  was  en- 
gaged to  be  married  to  a  Miss  Proctor,  he  had  stopped  at  the  inn 
for  refreshment,  and  was  told  what  had  happened,  by  the  people 
in  the  house.  His  curiosity,  excited  by  the  remark  that  the  gen- 
tleman was  from  Europe,  had  induced  him  to  make  a  personal 
visit  to  the  bedside  of  the  sufferer.  He  at  once  declared  himself 
ready  to  hasten  back  to  Philadelphia,  and  apply,  on  my  behalf,  to 
Messrs.  Willing  &  Francis,  for  a  few  lines  from  them  to  Dr. 
Physic,  the  most  celebrated  surgeon  in  the  United  States,  re- 
questing him  to  come  at  once  to  my  aid.  But  the  time  of  this 
distinguished  man  was  so  constantly  occupied  that  he  could  not 
comply.  However,  he  sent  me,  instead,  his  experienced  and  skil- 
ful nephew,  Dr.  Dorsey,  whom  I  saw  the  same  evening.  As  I 
had  expected,  he  at  once  discovered  the  folly  of  the  two  Wilming- 
ton surgeons,  freed  me  from  my  bandages,  and  went  over  the 
operation  of  setting  my  limb  a  second  time.  My  suffering  was 
great.  When  he  had  finished  the  painful  task,  he  said  to  me,  "  I 
promise  you  the  preservation  of  your  limb,  and  can  also  warrant 
that  it  will  be  pretty  straight  and  serviceable;  but  since  the  in- 
flammation has  been  so  extreme,  that  it  would  be  out  of  the  ques- 
tion to  expect  the  bones  to  reunite,  I  cannot  promise  you  that  you 


ESTIMATE  OF  GENERAL  MORE  AIL  151 

will  be  altogether  free  from  a  limp."  He  visited  me  frequently ; 
according  to  the  usual  rate  of  fees,  every  visit  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  city  entitled  the  physicians  and  surgeons  of  Philadelphia  to 
one  dollar  per  mile ;  and.  as  Wilmington  is  twenty-eight  miles 
from  Philadelphia,  every  mile  cost  me  that  many  dollars.  I  lay 
upon  my  solitary  bed  at  Wilmington  no  less  than  forty-two  days. 
On  the  sixth  Mr.  Parish  visited  me,  as  he  was  returning  from 
Baltimore  to  Philadelphia.  He  soon  again  left  the  latter  city,  on 
a  trip  to  his  property  near  the  St.  Lawrence,  after  having  made 
every  arrangement  for  my  reception,  so  soon  as  I  had  got  through 
the  probationary  period  at  Wilmington,  and  could  be  transferred 
from  that  place.  On  the  forty-third  day,  about  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  I  was  removed,  and  carried  on  my  bed  to  the  deck  of 
the  so-styled  Newcastle  packet,  on  board  of  which  I  reached  Phil- 
adelphia about  ten  the  same  evening,  and  half  an  hour  later  was 
installed  in  the  rooms  prepared  for  me  at  the  boarding-house  of  a 
Mr.  White,  the  first  establishment  of  the  kind  in  that  city. 
There  I  was  cheered  by  the  visits  of  many  friends,  and  by  the  best 
society,  native  and  foreign,  that  Philadelphia  could  boast.  Little 
by  little  I  became  able  to  move  about  on  crutches,  and  at  length 
felt  completely  re-established. 

In  October  Parish  returned,  accompanied  by  General  Moreau, 
whom  he  entertained  at  his  house,  and  whom  I,  upon  this  occa- 
sion, had  an  opportunity  of  knowing.  I  found  him  a  mild  and 
affable,  but,  mentally,  taking  him  all  in  all,  a  very  ordinary  and 
quite  uninteresting  man.  His  manners  were  simple,  and  pos- 
sessed a  naturalness  which  was  attractive ;  but  the  attention  of 
his  hearers  was  not  enchained  or  fixed  by  his  conversation,  or 
rather  his  monologue,  for  it  very  rarely  came  to  a  dialogue  of 
any  length,  and  you  could  listen  to  him  with  interest  only  when 
he  discoursed  about  his  really  very  remarkable  and  distinguished 
military  adventures;  you  could  then  listen  to  him  with  great 
pleasure.  Napoleon  he  almost  invariably  called  uLe  tyran" — the 
tyrant. 

Parish  himself  was  not  in  the  most  agreeable  mood  ;  without 
being  exactly  bound  to  do  so,  he  had  usually  shown  me  his  cor- 
respondence with  the  Amsterdam  house,  that  is  to  say,  the  letters 


152  PROPOSITION  TO  REVISIT  EUROPE. 

received  from  it,  but,  now  he  was  much  more  reserved  in  that 
respect.  Lestapis,  who,  as  I  have  already  stated,  lived  in  German- 
town,  came  but  seldom  to  the  city  to  hear  whatever  news  might 
be  afloat ;  but,  as  I  resided  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
Parish,  I  visited  him  and  his  counting-room  almost  daily.  One 
morning  he  called  me  into  his  room  and  said,  "  The  gentlemen  in 
Amsterdam  appear  to  be  getting  somewhat  impatient ;  they  would 
like  to  see  an  exhibit  of  the  whole,  and  to  make  out  one  is  no  easy 
affair,  although  the  materials  are  all  at  hand.  Will  you  look  over 
the  papers  and  tell  me  what  you  think  of  them  ]"  I  very  willing- 
ly complied,  and  after  I  had  formed  a  pretty  good  idea  of  the 
work,  I  offered  my  services  in  making  out  the  provisional  balance 
sheet  required.  The  total  amount  of  the  whole  transaction  ran 
up  to  no  less  than  thirty-three  millions  of  Spanish  dollars.  I  at 
once  went  to  work,  took  all  the  books  and  papers  that  could  be 
spared  home  with  me,  and  labored  from  the  middle  of  October, 
1808,  until  the  beginning  of  March,  in  the  following  year.  The 
person  whom  I  procured  to  copy  the  manifold  accounts,  and  the 
papers  of  my  general  exhibit  was  my  young  friend,  Virchaux, 
who  had  visited  me  in  Wilmington,  and  who  did  not  find  himself 
comfortably  situated  in  the  clerkship  he  then  held  in  a  quaker 
house.  I  advised  him  not  to  give  up  his  place  then,  but  to  devote 
to  me  all  the  time  he  could  spare.  When  Parish  had  carefully 
examined  the  exhibit,  he  found  it  sufficient  and  quite  satisfactory 
to  his  wishes.  Directly  afterwards  he  made  the  proposition  to 
me,  to  take  it  myself  to  Europe,  and  hand  it  over  to  Messrs. 
Baring  and  Mr.  J.  Williams  Hope,  in  London,  and  then  hasten  to 
Amsterdam  to  Mr.  Labouchere,  who,  he  said,  appeared  to  be 
waiting  for  me  with  great  impatience.  This  impatience  had 
partly  been  occasioned  by  the  business  I  had  concluded  at 
Havana.  Owing  to  my  shipwreck,  the  embargo,  and  certain 
delays  on  the  part  of  Parish,  no  direct  information  regarding  this 
business  had  reached  the  Messrs.  Hope,  but  they  had  heard  of  it 
indirectly,  through  a  channel  of  which  no  one  would  have  dreamed. 
The  reader  will  remember  that  at  the  time  of  my  taking  leave  of 
the  Intendant  at  Havana,  the  latter  had  especially  requested  me 
to  let  Talleyrand,  his  protector  and  friend,  hear  of  the  excellent 


PARISH'S  ANXIETY.  153 

reception  that  had  been  extended  to  me  by  him.  This  could  not 
have  been  sufficient  to  set  his  mind  at  ease,  for  he  had  taken 
advantage  of  a  Spanish  vessel  bound  for  St.  Sebastian,  to  pay 
his  compliments  to  the  Prince,  and  to  write  to  him  what  he  had 
done  to  further  the  business  that  had  brought  him  thither,  and  how 
it  had  been  concluded ;  all  this,  he  added,  out  of  a  special  regard 
for  the  interest  of  the  Prince.  At  a  time  when  the  whole  coast  of 
Cuba  was  closely  watched  by  the  numerous  English  cruisers,  and 
the  Spanish  coasts  along  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  still  more  sharply 
observed,  the  successful  departure  of  a  Spanish  ship  from  the 
harbor  of  Havana,  and  its  safe  arrival  in  the  ports  of  St.  Sebastian 
or  Bilboa,  was  something  bordering  almost  on  impossibility  ;  but 
in  the  case  of  the  vessel  which  bore  the  letter  of  the  Intend  ant  to 
Prince  Talleyrand,  every  thing  went  smoothly,  and  the  Prince 
received  the  missive.  Mr.  Labouchere,  who  happened  to  be  in 
Paris,  just  at  the  time  of  its  arrival,  was  questioned  in  regard  to 
it,  but  knew  nothing  more  about  it  than  that  I  had  taken  the  bill 
for  700,000  dollars  to  Havana  to  get  it  cashed.  The  Prince  found 
himself,  under  the  altered  state  of  things,  obliged  to  communicate 
the  whole  history  of  the  affair  to  Count  Mollien,  the  Minister  of 
the  Public  Treasury,  and  the  latter  could  compute  the  amount 
that  Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.  must  gain  by  the  exchange  of  bills,  as 
well  as  I  could.  He  thereupon  laid  claim  to  a  portion  of  this 
profit,  and  Mr.  Labouchere  remained  on  the  defensive  until  he 
should  have  further  intelligence  from  me.  Upon  my  departure 
from  Philadelphia,  Parish  gave  me  very  particular  directions  not 
to  lose  sight  of  his  desire  to  keep  the  lands  he  had  purchased,  on 
his  account,  and  should  the  opportunity  occur  during  the  ex- 
amination of  my  statements,  to  play  my  cards  so  well,  that  no 
difficulty  should  occur  in  this  respect.  From  the  disposition  he 
manifested,  frequently  to  make  various  pretences,  I  inferred  that 
he  began  to  rue  his  purchase,  and  that  he  was  desirous  of  once 
more  getting  rid  of  the  greater  part  of  it.  In  the  sequel  it  will 
appear  that  I  was  mistaken,  and  that  Parish  returned  from 
Europe  with  the  most  far-reaching  projects  in  regard  to  his  new 
possessions. 

7* 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MY  TRIP  TO  EUROPE  IN  THE  MONTH  OF  APRIL,  1809. 

Return  to  Europe  in  the  mouth  of  April,  1809,  for  the  purpose  of  takiug  over 
the  first  balaDee-sheet — Arrival  at  Falmouth — Stay  there,  in  consequence 
of  the  Alien  Act — Visit  of  Mr.  John  Parish,  at  Chelteuham — His  outward 
appearance  on  the  Bathers'  promenade — My  first  visit  to  the  House  of  the 
Barings — Visit  to  Mr.  Henry  Hope,  the  oldest  head  of  the  Amsterdam 
House — Sir  Francis  Baring — The  London  firm,  Baring,  Brothers  and  Co. — 
First  meeting  with  Mr.  Alexander  Baring — Journey  to  Holland,  by  way  of 
Helgoland — Journey  to  Paris — Meeting  there  with  Mr.  P.  C.  Labouchere, 
who  makes  me  personally  acquainted  with  Ouvrard — An  anecdote  of  the 
latter — The  pins — New  plans  of  Ouvrard,  which  are  overthrown  by  the  bat- 
tle of  Wagram  and  its  consequences — Return  to  Amsterdam,  by  way  of 
Brussels — My  sickness  in  Amsterdam  during  the  winter — Return  to  Ham- 
burgh, in  the  spring  of  1810 — Family  circumstances. 

On  the  5th  of  April,  1809,  I  went  from  New  York,  in  the  Eng- 
lish packet  ship  "  Prince  Adolphus,"  bound  first  to  Halifax,  in 
Nova  Scotia,  and  thence  to  Falmouth.  On  this  return  to  Europe 
I  could  not  quote  Schiller's  words,  "And  homeward  beats  the 
gentle  marching  time  of  peace !"  for  war  was  then  raging,  serious 
and  bitter  war.  We  had  strong  evidence  of  this,  as  we  were  ap- 
proaching the  English  coasts.  Once,  in  the  night-time,  and  once, 
just  as  we  had  seated  ourselves  at  table,  we  heard  the  captain's 
voice  above  us  ring  out  the  thrilling  order,  "All  hands  on  deck!" 
Upon  both  occasions  it  was  supposed  that  we  were  in  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood  of  a  small  French  sloop-of-war,  and  resistance 
to  the  last  extreme  was  Captain  Boulderson's  determination  ;  but 
fortunately  these  had  been  false  alarms,  and  no  danger  was  en- 
countered.    The  voyage  from  Halifax  to  the  offings  of  Falmouth 


MR.  JOHN  PARISH.  155 

was  accomplished  in  nine  days ;  but  just  in  sight  of  the  harbor  a 
contrary  wind  arose,  and  we  were  compelled,  to  our  great  annoy- 
ance, to  beat  about  nine  days  longer.  At  length,  on  the  nine- 
teenth day  after  our  departure  from  Halifax,  we  disembarked,  in 
excellent  health  and  spirits,  notwithstanding  the  tears  of  a  senti- 
mental American  lady,  who  began  to  repeat,  and  kept  repeating, 
the  words,  "Oh,  the  land  of  my  forefathers  !" 

At  the  time  of  my  arrival  in  England  the  "Alien  Act"  was  in 
full  force,  and  no  stranger  was  permitted  to  pass  into  the  interior 
of  the  country,  unless  he  could  obtain  a  permit  from  the  Alien 
Office ;  and  at  that  period  nine  days  were  required  for  the  receipt 
of  the  reply  to  an  application  for  such  a  permit  from  London,  and 
the  application  itself  had  to  be  made  by  a  responsible  house- 
holder. So  soon  as  I  had  received  my  passport  I  set  out  for 
London,  by  way  of  Bath,  in  order  to  fulfil  the  promise  I  had  made 
to  my  friend  David,  that  I  would,  immediately  after  my  arrival, 
call  upon  his  father,  and  give  him  the  latest  verbal  intelligence  of 
his  son.  I,  however,  did  not  find  Mr,  John  Parish  in  Bath ;  he 
had  gone  to  Cheltenham,  whither  I  immediately  followed  him, 
and  there  met  him  on  the  Bathers'  promenade.  I  immediately 
recognized  him ;  for  his  habit  of  attracting  the  attention  of  every 
one  around  him,  by  something  or  other  singular,  had  not  been 
laid  aside  in  England,  and  hence  his  appearance  at  once  marked 
him  out  amid  the  throng.  He  wore  a  little  velvet  cap,  trimmed 
with  fur,  cocked  over  one  ear,  a  velvet  coat,  in  Polish  style,  with 
long  wide  sleeves  and  gold-worked  braid,  and  a  long  Turkish  pipe 
in  his  right  hand ;  and  in  his  left  a  silken  leash,  in  which  he  held 
two  little  skittish  poodle  dogs,  completed  the  costume  of  this  old 
Scotchman,  who  had  for  several  years  been  a  resident  of  Ham- 
burgh. After  I  had  satisfied  his  curiosity  in  regard  to  his  son, 
and  had  replied  to  his  questions,  I  hastened  away  to  London,  with 
the  promise  of  speedily  repeating  my  visit,  and,  on  the  morning 
after  my  arrival  in  the  great  city,  I  repaired  to  the  Messrs. 
Barings',  whose  firm  was  at  that  time  styled  Sir  Francis  Baring, 
Bart.  &  Co.  I  found  in  their  counting-room  only  the  eldest  son-in- 
law  of  the  chief,  a  Mr.  Charles  Wall,  the  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  P. 
C.  Labouchere,  and  there  temporarily  deposited  my  papers,  ac- 


156  MR.  HENRY  HOPE. 

counts,  and  documents.  My  second  visit  was  to  the  two  Messrs. 
Hope,  namely,  to  the  eldest,  the  already  named  chief  of  the  Am- 
sterdam firm,  Mr.  Henry  Hope,  and  the  husband  of  his  niece, 
John  Williams  Hope,  who  both  lived  together  in  Cavendish 
Square.  I  finally  called  upon  my  father's  early  friend,  Sir  Fran- 
cis Baring,  who  received  me  with  great  cordiality,  was  prepared 
for  my  arrival,  and  asked  me  a  host  of  questions,  in  regard  to  my 
operations  in  Mexico.  Having  already  been  applied  to  on  the 
subject  by  the  Messrs.  Hope,  he  told  me  that  I  might  hold  my 
papers  at  the  disposition  of  his  son  Alexander,  and  then,  after 
careful  consultation  and  examination  of  the  same,  they  would 
decide  what  further  was  to  be  done,  and  keep  me  advised  of  the 
result. 

I  will  take  this  opportunity  of  saying  something  about  the 
Baring  family,  particularly  its  most  distinguished  members,  Sir 
Francis,  and  his  second  son,  Alexander,  as  well  as  the  honorable 
chief  of  the  Amsterdam  house,  Mr.  Henry  Hope,  whom  I  have 
already  named.  The  last  of  these,  when  I  first  made  his  acquaint- 
ance, had  reached  his  seventieth  year,  and  was  somewhat  deaf. 
He  had  never  been  married.  It  was  he  who  opened  the  way  for 
the  autocratic  power  of  Russia,  under  the  Empress  Catharine  II., 
to  the  confidence  of  the  then  wealthiest  capitalists  in  Europe,  the 
Dutch,  and  thereby  laid  the  foundation  of  Russian  credit.  Always 
treated  by  the  Empress  with  great  distinction,  he  had  been  hon- 
ored with  the  gift,  from  her  own  hand,  of  her  portrait,  the  full 
size  of  life.  This  picture  occupied  the  place  of  honor  in  the  superb 
gallery  of  paintings  fitted  up  by  him  in  his  palace  "  t'  Huys  ten 
Bosch"  (now  a  royal  pleasure-palace),  which  he  had  built  in  the 
wood  of  Harlem.  Upon  his  emigration  to  England,  he  had  taken 
this  splendid  gallery,  entirely  composed  of  cabinet-pieces,  with 
him,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  it  frequently,  at  his  resi- 
dence in  Cavendish  Square.  To  the' tone  of  a  refined  gentleman 
and  man  of  the  world  he  united  a  certain  amiable  affability  which 
spoke  to  and  won  every  heart.  The  whole-souled  cordiality  with 
which  he  always  met  me,  when  I  came  to  his  dwelling  in  the 
city,  or  to  his  country-seat,  East  Sheen,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Richmond,  has  always  remained  fresh  in  my  memory.     Yet  a 


THE  BARING  FAMILY.  157 

secret  trouble  seemed  to  be  weighing  on  his  mind.  This  annoy- 
ance arose  from  the  notorious  relations  of  his  niece,  Madam  Wil- 
liams Hope,  with  a  Dutch  officer  of  dragoons,  by  the  name  of 
Dopff.  I  had  attracted  his  confidence,  and  he  one  day  seized  me 
suddenly  by  the  hand,  led  me  to  the  window,  and  could  not  re- 
strain his  tears,  as  he  told  me  that  he  must  close  the  door  of  his 
house  against  her,  if  she  ventured  to  bring  this  man  with  her  to 
England.  The  larger  part  of  his  considerable  fortune,  which  he 
had  bequeathed  to  Henry,  the  eldest  son  of  this  niece,  and  who 
died  unmarried,  passed,  at  the  decease  of  the  latter,  to  Adrian,  the 
second  son,  who  left  no  male  heirs,  but  from  whom  it  descended  to 
Francis,  the  third  son,  born  several  years  afterwards.  This  third 
inheritor  is  the  rich  and  well  known  Mr.  Hope,  now  settled  in 
Paris,  and  the  only  surviving  member  of  that  branch  of  the  whole 
family. 

*  A  close  examination  into  the  origin  of  the  Baring  family  traces 
it  back  to  a  certain  Peter  Baring,  who  lived  in  the  years  from 
1660  to  1670,  at  Groningen,  in  the  Dutch  province  of  Overyssel. 
One  of  his  ancestors,  under  the  name  of  Francis  Baring,  was  pas- 
tor of  the  Lutheran  church  at  Bremen,  and  in  that  capacity  was 
called  to  London,  where,  among  others,  he  had  a  son  named  John. 
The  latter,  well  acquainted  with  cloth-making,  settled  at  Lark- 
beer,  in  Devonshire,  and  there  put  up  an  establishment  for  the 
manufacture  of  that  article.  He  had  five  children — four  sons, 
John,  Thomas,  Francis,  Charles,  and  a  daughter,  called  Elizabeth. 
Two  of  these  sons,  John  and  Francis,  established  themselves,  under 
the  firm  of  John  &  Francis  Baring,  at  London,  originally  with  a 
view  of  facilitating  their  father's  trade  in  disposing  of  his  goods, 
and  so  as  to  be  in  a  position  to  import  the  raw  material  to  be  re- 
quired, such  as  wool,  dye-stuffs,  &c,  themselves  directly  from 
abroad.     Thus  was  established  the  house  which — after  the  with- 

*  I  have  communicated  a  portion  of  the  following  particulars,  in  an  article 
entitled  "Alexander  Baring,  the  first  Lord  Ashburton,  and  the  Baring  House," 
in  the  "Deutschen  Freihafen,"  of  the  year  1848,  in  No.  24,  issued  June  11th. 
In  a  number  of  the  Hamburgh  "  Freischiitzen,"  which  came  out  a  few  days 
later,  the  editor  of  that  sheet  did  not  hesitate  to  make  use  of  the  greater  part 
of  that  article,  without  crediting  the  paper  in  which  it  was  originally  pub 
lished. 


158  THE  BARING  FAMILY. 

drawal  of  the  elder  brother  John,  who  retired  to  Exeter — gradu- 
ally, under  the  firm-name  of  Francis  Baring  &  Co.,  and  eventually, 
under  the  firm-name  of  Baring,  Brothers  &  Co.,  rose  to  the  high- 
est rank  of  mercantile  eminence  in  the  commerce  of  the  world. 

Sir  Francis,  who,  under  the  Ministry  of  the  Lord  Shelburne,  father 
of  the  present  Marquis  of  Lansdowne,  had  become  his  intimate 
friend  and  adviser  in  financial  matters,  having,  in  the  year  1793, 
received  the  title  of  Baronet,  was  already  styled  by  the  latter 
the  Prince  of  Merchants.  He  had  become  somewhat  feeble,  and 
very  deaf,  when  I  first  got  personally  acquainted  with  him.  On  the 
occasion  of  one  of  my  visits  to  him,  he  told  me  that  he  had  kept 
at  his  business  for  thirty  years  before  he  considered  himself  enti- 
tled to  keep  an  equipage.  Upon  another  occasion,  when  I  spoke 
to  him  of  my  project  in  establishing  myself  in  New  Orleans,  after 
the  termination  of  my  mission,  he  remarked,  "Usually,  my 
young  friend,  that  commission  business  is  the  best  in  which  the 
commissions  take  this  direction" — here  he  made  a  motion  with 
his  hands,  as  if  throwing  something  towards  him — "but  where  the 
business  goes  thus!" — motioning  as  if  he  was  throwing  something 
from  him — "  it  wants  a  sharp  eye."  This  amounted  to  saying,  in 
other  words,  that  receiving  consignments  was  a  better  business 
than  executing  commissions. 

Three  of  his  sons,  Thomas,  Alexander,  and  Henry,  entered  the 
London  establishment ;  but  the  first,  who  was  intended  to  have 
carried  on  the  father's  name,  after  the  death  of  the  latter,  on  the 
12th  of  September,  1810,  assumed  the  name  of  Sir  Thomas,  and 
withdrew  from  the  house,  as  the  third  also  found  occasion  to  do  at 
a  later  period.  The  latter  was  passionately  fond  of  play,  and  in- 
dulged in  it  with  so  much  success,  that  he  several  times  broke 
"  L'entreprise  Generate  Des  Jeux,"  of  Paris.  But  the  sight  of  one 
of  the  heads  of  such  a  house,  one  night  after  another,  in  the  great 
gambling  establishments,  produced  a  bad  effect ;  and  even  if  it 
did  not  impair  his  credit,  it  in  no  slight  degree  damaged  his  respect- 
ability. This  was  felt  at  head-quarters,  and  an  understanding  was 
come  to  for  his  withdrawal  from  the  firm. 

Alexander  Baring,  the  second  son  of  Sir  Francis,  had  received 
a  portion  of  his  education  in  Hanau,  had  then  completed  it  in  Eng 
land,  and  commenced  his  mercantile  career  in  the  house  of  Messrs. 


THE  BARING  FAMILY.  159 

Hope,  where  a  friendship  sprung  up  between  him  and  Mr.  P.  C. 
Labouchere,  which  led  to  the  latter's  marriage,  at  a  later  period, 
with  his  sister,  Maria  Baring.  When  the  Messrs.  Hope  retired 
to  England,  in  consequence  of  the  occupation  of  Holland  by  the 
revolutionary  French  army,  under  Pichegrue,  and  after  Alexander 
Baring  had  left  the  House,  he  determined  to  visit  the  United 
States  of  North  America.  At  his  departure,  his  father  confined 
his  advice  to  two  especial  recommendations,  one  of  which  was  to 
purchase  no  uncultivated  land,  and  the  other  not  to  marry  a  wife 
there:  "Because,"  said  he,  "uncultivated  lands  can  be  more  read- 
ily bought  than  sold  again  ;  and  a  wife  is  best  suited  to  the  home 
in  which  she  was  raised,  and  cannot  be  formed  or  trained  a  second 
time."  However,  Alexander  had  not  passed  one  year  in  the 
United  States  before  he  forgot  both  branches  of  his  father's  advice. 
Not  only  did  he  purchase  large  tracts  of  land,  in  the  western  part 
of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  lay  out  a  not  inconsiderable 
capital  ($100,000  at  least)  in  the  then  District  and  now  State  of 
Maine,  and  that  too  under  the  annexed  condition  of  bringing  a 
number  of  settlers  thither  within  a  certain  term  of  years,  but  also, 
in  1798,  when  just  twenty-four  years  of  age,  he  married  Anna,  the 
eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  William  Bingham,  in  Philadelphia,  who 
was  at  that  time  considered  the  richest  man  in  the  United  States, 
and  was  then  a  member  of  the  Senate.  The  inheritance  he  had 
to  thank  her  for,  at  the  death  of  her  father,  amounted  to  $900,000. 
She  bore  him  nine  children,  of  which  seven  are  still  living.  The 
eldest  of  these,  called  William  Bingham,  after  his  grandfather,  is 
the  present  Lord  Ashburton,  and  has  reached  the  age  of  fifty-three. 
His  wife  is  a  Lady  Sandwich,  and  their  marriage  has  remained 
childless.  After  his  death,  his  title,  along  with  the  greater  part 
of  his  fortune,  will  pass  to  the  second  son,  Francis,  who  is  married 
to  a  daughter  of  the  Duke  Bassano,  a  former  State  Secretary  of 
Napoleon.  This  gentleman  usually  resides  at  Paris,  and  is  the 
eldest  head  of  the  London  house,  in  the  management  of  whose 
business,  however,  he  seldom  takes  any  active  part.  He  has  two 
sons.  The  favorite  from  the  first,  of  his  father  and  mother,  both 
title  and  fortune  will  pass  entirely,  according  to  their  wishes,  into 
the  hands  of  him  who  in  their  eyes  deserved  the  preference. 


100  MR.  ALEXANDER  BARING. 

About  a  week  after  I  had  handed  in  my  papers,  at  the  Barings' 
counting-house,  I  received  a  very  friendly  invitation  from  Mr. 
Alexander  Baring,  to  meet  him  at  a  certain  hour,  on  an  appointed 
day,  in  his  office  in  Bishopsgate-street.  There  it  was  that  I  for 
the  first  time  saw  this  merchant,  who  had  already  become  so  distin- 
guished, and  where  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  completely  win 
his  confidence,  in  a  few  brief  interviews.  The  repeated  proofs 
which  he  has  given  me,  since  this  commencement  of  our  acquaint- 
ance, during  a  long  lifetime,  the  hearty  cordiality  with  which  he 
has  always  received  me,  and  his  special  preference,  with  which  he 
clung  to  me,  belong  to  the  most  agreeable  recollections  of  my 
career,  and  in  my  days  of  trial  I  have  never  looked  back  upon 
them  without  a  sense  of  supreme  gratification,  that  refreshed  and 
steeled  my  courage  for  new  struggles.  The  first  hour  and  a  half 
of  our  conversation  was  devoted  to  a  verbal  review  and  analysis 
of  the  whole  Mexican  business,  of  whose  details  Messrs.  Baring 
knew  just  as  little  as  did  the  Messrs.  Hope,  and  of  whose  results 
those  gentlemen,  collectively  and  undeniably,  could  judge  only  by 
the  sums  returned  and  accounted  for  to  them.  After  I  had  served 
as  his  pioneer  through  this  labyrinth  of  calculations,  he  folded  up 
the  papers  together,  for  the  purpose  of  studying  them  over,  and 
promised  that  within  a  few  days  he  would  again  have  an  interview 
with  me  concerning  them,  and  undertake  an  examination  of  the 
present  posture  of  the  affair.  In  the  course  of  our  conversation 
he  suddenly  asked,  "What  do  you  think  of  David  Parish V 
This  made  me  stammer,  and  I  hesitated  in  my  reply.  He  then 
said,  "  You  may  speak  out  without  hesitation ;  whatever  you  may 
think  fit  to  say  shall  go  no  farther,  but  I  want  to  have  your 
opinion."  I  replied,  "  My  opinion  is  of  little  value,  but  since  you 
wish  me  to  speak,  I  shall  say  that  Mr.  Parish  shows  more  ability 
in  getting  out  of  scrapes  than  in  avoiding  them."  "  Ah  !"  said  he, 
"  I  see ;  you  allude  to  the  affair  of  Guest  &  Bancker.  Let  me  tell 
you  that  I  did  not  like  it  at  all ;  and,  to  tell  the  truth,  it  has  had  a 
most  unfavorable  and  painful  effect  upon  my  mind.  Here  let  the 
matter  rest !" 

Upon  our  next  interview,  after  he  had  made  himself  fully  ac- 
quainted with  the  subject,  I  brought  forward  the  question  of  the 


SIR  FRANCIS  BARING.  161 

laud  purchases  made  by  Parish.  The  moneys  paid  out  for  them, 
up  to  the  middle  of  March,  amounted,  according  to  the  calcula- 
tions I  had  brought  along,  to  the  sum  of  $363,000.  "Why,"  he 
remarked,  "  Parish  must  have  been  very  sanguine  about  the  mat- 
ter, to  have  laid  out  so  much  money  upon  an  experiment."  My 
reply  was,  that  Parish  considered  it  such  a  splendid  operation, 
that  he  did  not  wish  to  give  up  any  of  it,  but  desired  to  keep  it 
all  on  his  own  account.  "  He  is  welcome  to  it !"  he  rejoined  ; 
"  he  may  keep  them  all  !  As  to  ourselves,  we  have  more  lands 
than  we  know  what  to  do  with ;  and  I  do  not  think  Labouchere 
would  wish  to  meddle  with  them;  it  is  not  in  his  way."  It  was 
upon  this  occasion  that  he  related  to  me  the  anecdote  of  his  father's 
advice,  at  the  time  of  his  departure  for  the  United  States.  Thus 
all  that  Parish  had  desired  was  as  good  as  accomplished. 

From  the  hands  of  Alexander  Baring  my  papers  passed  into 
the  hands  of  his  father,  Sir  Francis  Baring,  who  also  invited  me  to 
see  him,  for  the  purpose  of  explaining  to  him  some  points  which 
he  had  not  fully  understood  at  first.  These  related  to  the  capital 
arising  from  the  assumption,  by  Parish,  of  the  guaranty  respect- 
ing the  duties  at  twenty  per  cent.  This  amounted  to  more  than 
$2,000,000,  and,  in  the  settlement  of  accounts  between  him  and 
Oliver  and  other  houses,  was  always  deducted  and  retained  by 
him.  A  short  explanation  sufficed  to  render  this  quite  clear,  and 
thereupon  he  sent  the  papers  to  Mr.  Williams  Hope,  with  the 
declaration,  that  thus  far  all  had  been  plain  enough  to  him  to  let 
him  "  see  land,"  as  he  expressed  it.  Mr.  Williams  Hope,  whose 
head  could  not  stand  any  further  strain,  took — as  he  should  have 
done,  at  any  rate — Sir  Francis  at  his  word,  and  expressed  the 
wish  that  I  would  hasten  to  Mr.  Labouchere  with  all  due  speed. 
As  the  Messrs.  Baring  kept  up  a  communication  with  Amsterdam, 
through  Vliessingen,  by  means  of  fishing  boats,  in  order  to  arrive 
there  sooner,  I  was  going  to  take  one  of  these  ;  but  Mr.  Williams 
Hope  thought  that  all  kinds  of  difficulties  might  spring  up  in  my 
path  when  I  landed  in  Holland,  and  that,  owing  to  the  fact  of  my 
not  being  familiar  with  the  Dutch  language,  they  would  be  more 
than  I  could  manage,  my  papers  would  be  taken  away  from  me, 
&c,  &c,  so  I  must  go  to  Helgoland,  at  that  time  the  centre  of 


iG2  AMSTERDAM— PARTS. 

the  contraband  trade  with  the  north  of  Germany.  He  was  of  the 
opinion  that  I  should  be  able  to  make  through,  and  reach  Amster- 
dam more  easily,  in  that  direction.  "  It  matters  little,"  he  would 
very  coolly  remark,  "  about  your  personal  safety  ;  the  papers  are 
the  thing,  they  must  be  safe.  The  rest  is  not  worth  one  min- 
ute's consideration  !"  He  was  not  altogether  wrong  in  the  main, 
but  I  cannot  say  that  I  felt  greatly  flattered  at  the  egotistic  care- 
lessness with  which  he  very  unhesitatingly  spoke  of  my  person. 
He  had  a  repulsive  exterior,  and  pure  egotism  was  visible  in 
every  line  and  feature  of  his  countenance. 

At  last,  upon  these  recommendations,  I  set  out,  by  way  of  Har- 
wich, for  Helgoland,  where  I  met  with  a  number  of  Hamburgh- 
ers  of  my  former  acquaintance ;  for  instance,  Mr.  Charles  Parish, 
David's  younger  brother,  who  there,  in  the  rendezvous  of  all  the 
smugglers  to  the  main  land,  exhibited  his  especial  fitness  for  the 
part  of  a  mercantile  matado,  among  his  companions  and  partici- 
pants in  this  not  very  reputable  trade — a  real  hors  tfceuvre  for  a 
regular  merchant — and  displayed  his  inborn  tendency,  "a  trancher 
du  grand  Seigneur,"  by  carrying  on  even  this  commerce  on  the 
most  extensive  scale.  I  also  met  Nicholas,  the  fugitive  English 
Consul  from  Hamburgh,  in  Helgoland,  where  he  went  about  as 
he  had  done  at  Hamburgh,  with  his  oblique,  that  is  to  say,  strongly 
squinting  glance,  treading  on  everybody's  toes,  and  then  excusing 
himself  with  the  words,  "No  offence!"  Yet  not  alone  from  Ham- 
burgh, but  from  every  part  of  the  surrounding  coasts,  and  from 
the  banks  of  the  Elbe  and  Weser,  smugglers  had  assembled  on 
the  island. 

A  bark  laden  with  coffee,  conveyed  me  to  the  Weser,  and 
landed  me  there  before  daybreak,  close  to  a  little  village  situated 
near  the  shore.  I  there  procured  a  horse  and  wagon,  and  pro- 
ceeded on  my  way  to  Amsterdam.  I  reached  the  latter  city  on 
the  fourth  day  after  my  disembarkation,  but  found  no  manager  in 
the  counting-house,  excepting  an  elderly  Englishman  named 
Dixon,  who  informed  me  that  Mr.  Labouehere  was  waiting  for  me 
in  Paris,  and  that  I  must  at  once  repair  thither  to  him.  On  the 
same  day  I  received  my  regular  passport,  and  leaving  Amsterdam 
at  ten  on  that  same  evening,  reached  Paris  on  the  fourth  day, 


SARMIENTO— DAVID  PARISH.  163 

almost  in  a  dream,  for  I  had  been  kept  away  for  seven  nights  with- 
out lying  down  upon  a  bed.  Mr.  Labouchere  was  still  at  Nantes, 
but  they  were  expecting  him  within  three  days,  at  the  Hotel  de 
1 'Empire,  where  I  also  alighted.  This  establishment,  at  that  time 
the  best  house  of  the  kind  in  Paris,  stood  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue 
Cerutti  and  the  Rue  de  Provence,  and  was  the  very  same  build- 
ing which  Mr.  James  Laffitte  purchased  and  lived  in  a  few  years 
later.  Three  days  afterwards,  Mr.  Labouchere  arrived,  was 
heartily  glad  to  see  me,  and  was  by  no  means  sparing  in  his 
praise.  But  he  could  not  conceal  a  great  deal  of  irritation  against 
Parish.  The  affair  that  seemed  to  affect  him  the  most  unpleas- 
antly was,  the  lawsuit  Parish  had  carried  on  in  Philadelphia,  with 
a  certain  Sarmiento,  a  Teneriffe  man  by  birth,  who  had  settled 
there,  and  who,  through  intrigues  at  Madrid,  had  found  the  means 
of  coming  out  against  Parish,  with  an  appearance  of  right,  in  the 
name  of  the  Spanish  Government,  and  undertaking  to  make  him 
responsible  for  duties  withheld  on  the  sale  of  cargoes  sent  to  Vera 
Cruz.  When  Sarmiento  came  forward  with  this  demand,  the  sole 
and  most  natural  defence  of  Parish  was,  that  he,  as  the  agent  of 
Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.  in  Amsterdam,  could  not  be  held  personally 
responsible ;  and  that,  in  case  Sarmiento  or  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment really  were  entitled  to  ask  for  anything,  they  had  only  to 
look  to  Messrs.  Hope,  and  not  to  any  one  who  was  conducting 
business  merely  in  their  name.  That  Parish  was  but  an  agent, 
and  had  acted  under  instructions,  was  evident  from  his  contract; 
and  not  the  American,  but  the  Dutch  courts  were  the  forum  in 
which  the  question  could  be  discussed.  But  the  inborn  vanity  of 
Parish  would  not  allow  him  to  confine  himself  to  this  simple 
course.  At  the  head  of  so  many  millions,  throwing  money  about 
in  all  directions,  wherever  he  was  applied  to  to  relieve  a  mercan- 
tile necessity,  he  seemed  to  have  become  a  much  more  important 
personage  in  the  United  States  than  the  President  himself.  He 
was  gratified  at  feeling  himself  the  omnipotent  Jupiter  of  the 
American  money-market,  and  it  would  have  gone  hard  with  him 
to  relinquish  even  a  grade  of  this  position.  This  it  undoubtedly 
was  that  caused  him  to  adopt  the  wrong  course,  and  go  through 
with  a  suit,  which  led  to  public  scandal,  and  the  farcical  procedure 


1G4  MY  AMERICAN  MISSION  CONCLUDED. 

of  citing  King  Charles  IV.  to  appear  as  a  witness  against  David 
Parish. 

The  question  of  the  lands  promised  to  terminate  without  any 
difficulty.  Mr.  Labouchere,  upon  his  part,  also  regarded  this  co- 
lossal purchase  as  a  thing  apart,  which  did  not  at  all  helong  to  the 
range  of  business  undertaken  by  the  firm,  and  which  bore  upon 
its  face  the  character  of  a  private  speculation  of  Mr.  Parish. 

After  Mr.  Labouchere  had  propounded  several  questions,  touch- 
ing the  negotiation  conducted  at  Havana,  he  informed  me  that 
he  had  to  bring  the  business  to  a  conclusion  with  Count  Mollien, 
and  would  introduce  me  to  the  latter.  This  he  did.  The  Count, 
who  wore  spectacles,  eyed  me  over  them  while  Mr.  Labouchere 
was  talking  to  him,  and  at  length  addressed  me  with  some  flatter- 
ing words  upon  my  success.  A  few  days  later,  Mr.  Labouchere 
informed  me  that  he  had  concluded  the  affair  with  the  Minister. 
"  I  have  been  obliged  to  make  a  bungling  job  of  it,"  were  his 
words,  "and  share  the  profits;  but  you  have  not  been  forgotten, 
you  shall  get  your  portion."  Sure  enough,  I  some  weeks  after- 
wards received  a  notification  from  the  Minister,  that,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Imperial  order,  the  sum  of  45,817  francs  was  at  my 
disposal,  as  an  acknowledgment  of  the  service  I  had  rendered  the 
Public  Treasury. 

My  American  mission  could  now  be  regarded  as  at  an  end  ;  at 
least  so  long  as  Parish  had  not  returned  from  the  United  States. 
I  wanted  to  visit  my  parents  and  relatives  in  Hamburgh,  but  Mr. 
Labouchere  held  me  back.  He  had  some  fresh  business  for  me, 
he  said,  and  I  should  hear  all  about  it  in  a  few  days.  As  we  were 
lodging  at  the  same  hotel,  we  met  daily,  usually  in  the  morning, 
but  also  often  in  the  evening,  after  his  return  from  parties,  or 
from  the  opera,  or  theatres. 

One  morning  Mr.  Labouchere  sent  for  me  to  come  to  him,  and 
when  I  appeared,  presented  me  to  Mr.  Ouvrard,  whose  personal 
acquaintance  I  had  long  wished  to  form,  as  he  very  well  knew. 
The  refined  tone,  the  affability  and  winning  manners  of  this  gen- 
tleman, pleased  me  extremely.  He  expressed  himself  with  rare 
fluency,  and  in  the  choicest  language,  upon  every  subject  that  was 
brought  forward,  and  at  the  same  time  exhibited  the  clearness  of 


OUVRARD— WHAT  HE  DID  W  PRISON.  165 

his  views  in  striking  sentences,  and  words  full  of  meaning,  when 
the  topic  called  for  them.  He  never  remained  at  fault  for  an 
answer,  and,  where  the  truth  denied  him  the  elements  of  a  direct 
reply,  his  inventive  mind  always  opened  for  him  a  middle  road 
between  fiction  and  reality.  He  gave  me  a  convincing  proof  of 
his  especial  capacity  for  treading  this  middle  road,  when  I  met 
him,  a  few  days  later,  at  a  dinner-party  given  by  Mr.  Labouchere. 
In  the  spring  of  1809,  in  one  of  Napoleon's  fits  of  ill  humor,  he 
had  been  shut  up  for  several  weeks  at  Vincennes,  and  denied  the 
use  of  pen,  paper  and  ink,  and  even  of  books,  during  the  whole  of 
that  time.  At  the  dinner-table,  upon  the  occasion  I  am  now  allu- 
ding to,  Mr.  Labouchere  asked  him  how,  with  such  a  restless  dis- 
position as  his,  he  had  managed  to  pass  the  time,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances. Without  stopping  to  think  long  about  his  reply,  he 
answered,  that  what  had  really  puzzled  him  was  to  find  something 
to  occupy  his  mind,  and,  at  the  same  time,  some  exercise  for  his 
body,  between  four  bare  walls.  "  At  length  I  hit  upon  the  right 
plan,"  said  he ;  "  happening  to  thrust  my  hand  into  one  of  my 
coat  pockets,  I  there  found  a  packet  of  pins.  I  at  once  took  them 
out,  and,  counting  them  carefully,  discovered,  like  Leporello,  in 
Don  Juan,  the  number  to  be  1,003.  I  thereupon  took  the  whole 
quantity  in  my  hand,  and,  flinging  them  around,  scattered  them 
into  all  quarters  of  the  room.  I  then  began  the  task  of  picking 
them  up  again,  until  I  could  produce  exactly  the  same  number  I 
held  at  first.  Each  time,  three,  four,  five,  or  even  more  were 
missing.  These  I  searched  for  untiringly  until  they  were  found ; 
and  many  a  time  have  I  spent  a  whole  hour  in  conjecturing  where 
they  could  have  fallen ;  and  then  I  would  pry  into  every  cranny, 
chink,  and  hole  in  the  walls,  or  on  the  paved  floor,  and  in  this  way 
I  procured  a  healthful  and  uninterrupted  course  of  bodily  and 
mental  exercise." 

Ouvrard,  tired  of  his  long  protracted  inactivity,  and  once  more 
in  the  full  possession  of  his  liberty,  had,  in  company  with  his 
friend  the  Duke  of  Otranto,  the  Minister  of  Police,  and  with  the 
participation  of  Murat,  the  King  of  Naples,  struck  off  a  plan  which 
was  extremely  advantageous  to  the  latter  The  negotiation  that 
was  opened  could  proceed  only  very  slowly,  since  Murat  was  with 


166  MR.  LABOUCHERE. 

the  army,  which  had  an  opportunity  of  resting  a  little  during  the 
armistice  intervening  between  the  battle  of  Essling  and  the  battle 
of  Wagram.  The  plan  was,  to  procure  Murat's  signature  of  a 
hundred  permits,  which,  drawn  up  after  the  model  of  the  Spanish 
ones,  from  Don  Miguel  Cayetano  Soler,  mentioned  neither  the 
tonnage  nor  the  cargo  of  vessels  that  were  to  sail  with  them  from 
Malta  to  Naples  and  Palermo,  and  there  barter  for  all  kinds  of 
Neapolitan  commodities,  which  they  were  to  bring  back  with 
them.  Mr.  Labouchere  wranted  to  send  me  to  Malta  with  these 
permits,  so  soon  as  the  conditions  had  been  complied  with  which 
he  had  laid  down  for  the  prosecution  of  this  enterprise.  These 
conditions  embraced  the  deposit  of  2,000,000  Neapolitan  ducats 
in  the  hands  of  Hope  &  Co.,  as  guaranty  and  security  for  the 
cargoes  of  English  manufactured  goods  and  other  articles  that 
were  to  be  sold,  or  traded  off,  in  the  ports  of  Naples,  for  the  pro- 
ducts of  that  kingdom.  The  Duke  of  Otranto  had  undertaken  to 
get  this  sum  together.  After  I  had  devoted  the  whole  day  to 
amusement,  or  any  occupation  that  pleased  me  the  most,  I  was 
not  unfrequently  called,  at  midnight,  to  Mr.  Labouchere,  to  aid 
him  in  all  kinds  of  work  relating  to  the  projected  enterprise,  the 
Spanish  loan,  &c. 

Meanwhile  the  battle  of  Wagram  was  fought.  Napoleon's 
speedy  return  was  at  hand.  Murat  hesitated  to  sign  the  permits, 
and  the  Duke  of  Otranto,  of  whom,  it  was  well  known,  that  he 
had  ceased  to  take  any  important  part  in  the  Emperor's  confi- 
dence, had  to  recede  from  his  offer  to  raise  the  money  that  was  to 
have  guarantied  the  action  of  Mr.  Labouchere.  The  latter  here- 
upon made  preparations  for  his  return  to  Amsterdam,  and  re- 
quested me  to  follow  him  thither  within  a  few  weeks.  I  complied 
with  his  wishes,  and  arrived  in  Amsterdam  at  the  time  when  the 
King  of  Holland  had  begun  to  entertain  the  lively  hope,  that, 
through  the  secret  negotiations  which  had  for  some  time  been  car- 
ried on,  the  basis  of  a  general  peace  with  England  would  be  laid. 
He  had  learned  to  know  and  appreciate  Mr.  Labouchere,  and  had 
applied  to  him  to  open  the  negotiations.  Mr.  Labouchere  at 
once  informed  me  of  his  intended  visit  to  England,  without  saying 
a  word  about  its  purpose,  and  gave  me  a  couple  of  lines  to  the 


ILLNESS  AT  AMSTERDAM.  16? 

Minister  of  Marine,  to  be  handed  him  whenever  he  should  summon 
me  to  an  interview,  and  communicate  his  wishes.  These  lines 
contained  nothing  further  than  that  he  could  place  full  reliance  on 
me,  in  every  respect,  and  that  I  was  at  the  Minister's  disposal. 
A  fortnight  passed  by  ;  Mr.  Labouchere  returned  suddenly  from 
London,  and  I  then  learned,  for  the  first  time,  that  his  peace  mis- 
sion had  failed.  The  whole  business  had  been  a  project,  got  up 
by  the  Duke  of  Otranto,  in  order  to  restore  himself  in  the  declin- 
ing favor  of  Napoleon,  by  a  striking  and  unexpected  success  in 
England.  But  when  Napoleon,  who  was  just  then  visiting  Ant- 
werp with  the  young  Empress  Marie  Louise,  heard  the  posture 
of  the  negotiation,  from  his  brother  Louis,  the  two  names  of  Ouv- 
rard  and  Fouche,  the  first  already  hateful  to  his  ears,  and  the  lat- 
ter rapidly  becoming  so,  again  brought  up  before  him,  he  dis- 
missed the  latter,  and  gave  the  Duke  of  Rovigo,  his  successor  in 
the  Ministry  of  Police,  directions  to  have  the  former  arrested,  and 
confined  at  Vincennes.  It  was  long  after  this  imprisonment  that 
\)uvrard  related  to  me  the  anecdote  I  have  given  above. 

About  this^time  a  violent  catarrhal  fever  seized  me  at  Amster- 
dam, and  confined  me  during  several  weeks  to  my  bed,  compelling 
me  to  keep  my  room  until  the  middle  of  March,  1810.  I  ex- 
changed frequent  letters  with  my  family,  who  were  very  impatient 
to  see  me  again.  One  letter  from  my  father  informed  me,  that 
the  hard  times  had  greatly  impaired  his  business,  and  that  much 
money  was  lying  out  in  goods  he  was  expecting  from  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea,  and  that  the  supplies  were,  to  use  a  mercantile 
phrase,  somewhat  tight.  He  closed  with  the  request,  that  as  he 
had  heard  of  my  great  good  fortune  in  America,  to  send  him 
about  15,000  marks.  I  replied  that  I  could  not,  positively,  say 
how  large  a  profit  I  had  made  in  America,  as  that  would  depend 
upon  the  yet  unconcluded  general  winding-up  of  the  whole  busi- 
ness, to  which  I  had  only  partially  contributed ;  but  that  he  could 
have  the  15,000  marks  without  difficulty,  and  might  look  for  them 
within  eight  or  ten  days.  A  month  had  scarcely  passed,  after  he 
had  received  this  sum  from  me,  ere  I  was  asked  afresh  for  a  sec- 
ond loan  of  12,500  marks,  and  that  was  likewise  sent.  At  length, 
having  entirely  recovered,  I  received  permission  from  Labouchere 


168  VISIT  TO  MY  PARENTS. 

to  visit  my  family  at  Hamburgh,  and  was  speedily  in  their  midst. 
My  good  mother  had  lost  all  her  vivacity,  and  my  father  was  a 
good  deal  bent,  and  evidently  enfeebled.  He  was,  at  that  time, 
something  more  than  sixty-nine  years  of  age.  After  a  short  time 
had  elapsed,  I  inquired  into  the  circumstances  of  the  family,  and 
my  father,  in  a  tete-a-tete,  congratulated  me  on  my  great  success. 
After  he  had  almost  looked  upon  me  as  lost,  when  I  left  Ham- 
burgh, I  had  been  skilful  enough  to  make  so  considerable  a  capi- 
tal, in  a  few  years,  that  the  American  Consul,  Forbes,  had  assured 
him  my  accumulation  must  be  at  least  600,000  marks.  "  And 
could  you  believe  it,  father  V  I  asked  him  ;  "  Really,  could  you 
give  yourself  up  to  such  an  idea,  and  not  reflect  that  you  would 
have  received  earlier  proofs  of  my  wealth,  had  it  been  true  that  I 
possessed  so  much  V  To  this  he  could  make  no  reply.  I  had 
already  remarked  that  there  was  a  considerable  admixture  of  cre- 
dulity in  his  character,  but  that  it  could  go  so  far,  as  it  did  in  this 
instance,  I  had  never  supposed.  Having  returned  to  my  mother, 
she  too  spoke  of  the  wealth  I  had  amassed  ;  and  just  at  the  same 
moment  a  mirror  betrayed  a  certain  motion  of  the  head,  expres- 
sive of  denial,  which  my  father,  who  stood  behind  me,  was  making 
to  her,  yet  she  ended  her  days  in  the  same  delusion. 

I  may  here  spare  my  readers  the  recapitulation  of  further 
details,  and  confine  myself  to  the  consequences  resulting  from  this 
visit  to  Hamburgh.  It  was  not  without  some  trouble  that  I  made 
my  father  comprehend,  that  he  could  not  live  by  a  failing  busi- 
ness, and  that  such  was  the  only  kind  he  could,  in  those  times, 
hope  to  have  within  reach.  When  he,  however,  at  length,  under- 
stood this,  he  finally  made  up  his  mind  to  retire.  I  advanced  the 
amount  of  capital  that  was  lacking,  for  the  complete  settlement 
of  his  business,  so  as  to  extinguish  all  claims.  When  I  had  ascer- 
tained how  much  would  be  required  to  support  a  family  like  his 
comfortably,  in  some  cheaper  place,  in  Schwerin,  or  Ratzeburg, 
for  instance,  I  prevailed  upon  my  father  to  give  up  his  expensive 
residence  in  Hamburgh,  and  to  choose  one  of  these  places  for  his 
future  abode,  binding  myself,  if  he  would  do  so,  to  pay  in  a  regu- 
lar stipend  of  6,000  marks.  This  plan  was  carried  into  execution, 
and  my  parents  went  to  Schwerin,  and  then  to  Ratzeburg,  where  I 


THEIR  DEATH.  169 

had  the  pleasure  of  embracing  them  both,  upon  two  occasions, 
once  in  1816,  and  again  in  1822,  and  where  they  died  before  for- 
tune had  begun  to  turn  her  back  on  me.  Heaven  be  thanked ! 
they  never  knew  of  my  reverses,  or  of  the  long  period  of  suffering 
through  which  I  had  to  struggle ! 

8 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND. 

Return  to  England,  to  await  the  arrival  of  Parish,  for  the  final  liquidation  ot 
the  great  operation — This  takes  place  much  later  than  was  expected,  and 
the  liquidation  is  not  made  until  June,  1811 — Parish  is  accompanied  by  me 
to  Antwerp,  where  I  await  the  result — Unusual  profit  by  the  operation — 
Meetiug,  in  Paris,  with  Labouchere,  Parish,  and  Le  Ray  Chaumont ;  the  last 
busied  with  new  projects  for  the  sale  of  his  lands,  never  lets  Parish  out  of 
his  sight — Rapid  glance  at  the  value  of  the  lands  purchased  by  Parish — Re- 
doubled propositions  to  houses  in  Europe — I  refuse  them — Resolution  to 
return  to  New  Orleans — Preliminary  consultations  with  Mr.  Labouchere, 
and  then  with  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  at  London,  in  relation  to  my  future 
establishment  at  New  Orleans — The  selection  of  a  companion  and  future 
partner  in  business — My  departure  from  Liverpool  for  New  York,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1811 — Arrival  there — Continuation  of  my  journe}7  to  New  Orleans 
overland,  and  by  means  of  the  western  navigation — The  flat-boats  I  build 
and  fit  up  at  Pittsburgh — I  follow  my  companion,  who  had  preceded  me, 
and  cross  the  Alleghany  mountains  on  horseback — My  first  acquaintance, 
near  the  Falls  of  the  Juniata,  with  Audubon,  who  afterwards  became  so 
celebrated  as  an  ornithologist — My  stay  at  Lexington — Henry  Clay — First 
traces  of  the  earthquake,  on  the  way  to  Louisville,  and  then  in  that  city — 
The  earthquake  comes  on,  in  the  night  of  February  6,  1812,  near  New  Mad- 
rid, beside  the  Mississippi — Description  of  my  situation — Consequences  of 
the  earthquake — Arrival  in  New  Orleans,  in  March,  1812. 

Soon  afterwards  I  returned  to  England,  there  to  await  the  arri- 
val of  Parish,  for  the  liquidation  and  settlement  of  the  whole  busi- 
ness. Lestapis  had  already  left  the  United  States,  a  year  pre- 
viously, and  had  gone  with  his  family  to  Bordeaux.  Parish 
returned  to  Europe  a  good  deal  later ;  landed,  like  myself,  at 
Falmouth,  and  at  once  repaired  to  his  father  in  Cheltenham. 
Before  lie  set  out  for  London,  he  invited  me  to  visit  him  at  that 
place.     He  wished  for  information  regarding  the  whole  state  of 


NEW  PROPOSITIONS.  171 

things,  and  especially  with  reference  to  the  feeling  of  Messrs.  Hope 
and  Baring.  I  had  already  let  him  know,  while  he  was  yet  in  the 
United  States,  that  in  regard  to  his  lands  he  would  encounter  no 
difficulty.  In  August,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  go,  by  way  of  Os- 
tend  and  Antwerp,  to  Amsterdam,  to  wind  up  affairs  with  his 
principals.  He  expressed  the  desire  that  I  should  accompany 
him,  at  least  to  Antwerp,  and  there  await  his  return  from  Am- 
sterdam. I  agreed  to  do  this,  the  more  readily  as  I  too  wished  to 
bring  my  plans  for  the  future  into  some  clear  light,  and  place 
them  on  a  secure  basis.  Mr.  Labouchere  had  proposed  to  me  to 
enter  the  houserof  his  brother  at  Nantes,  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Tro- 
treau,  and  to  marry  the  only  daughter  of  that  wealthy  and  upright 
man,  since  her  father,  as  he  told  me,  would  be  content  with  that 
arrangement,  and  had  meanwhile  promised  to  give  her  a  dower  of 
150,000  francs,  if  I  were  inclined  to  agree.  But  Mademoiselle  was 
exactly  the  reverse  of  a  pretty  and  agreeable  young  French  lady  ; 
vivacity,  grace,  and  cultivation  were  lacking  in  an  equal  degree ; 
and  if  she  would  not  precisely  pass  for  a  simpleton,  still  one  thing 
was  certain,  namely,  that  sensible  persons  must  be  very  different 
indeed.  I  consequently  declined  the  offer.  David  Parish,  who 
was  anxious  to  return  to  the  United  States,  now  desired  to  place 
me  at  the  head  of  an  establishment,  that  was  to  be  opened  in  Liv- 
erpool, with  a  capital  of  £20,000  sterling,  and  in  company  with  his 
brother-in-law,  Hamilton,  from  Glasgow,  who  had  married  his 
sister,  the  widow  Charnock.  This  capital  was  to  be  contributed 
by  him,  his  brothers  in  Hamburgh,  the  Messrs.  Baring,  and  my- 
self, in  equal  sums  of  £5,000  sterling. 

I  was  desirous  of  first  becoming  familiarly  acquainted  with  Mr. 
Hamilton,  before  agreeing  and  pledging  myself  to  this  arrange- 
ment. After  I  had  learned  to  know  that  gentleman,  T  quickly 
made  up  my  mind  to  decline  the  proposed  partnership.  The  good 
man  possessed  no  mercantile  experience  whatever.  He  had  sim- 
ply been  the  agent  of  a  London  Fire  Insurance  Company,  at  Glas- 
gow, had  married  a  widow  eight  years  older  than  himself,  but  for 
all  that  very  attractive  and  agreeable,  and  seemed  to  be  a  man  of 
weak  and  undecided  character,  quite  happy  and  contented  under 
the  petticoat  government  to  which  he  was  subjected.     Moreover, 


172  SETTLEMENT  WITH  PARISH. 

I  learned,  from  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  that  he  had  only  promised 
his  participation  in  the  whole  plan,  because  he  had  been  led  into 
the  belief,  that  I  had  been  fully  consulted  in  regard  to  it,  and  had 
approved  of  the  matter.  Hence  I  made  my  excuses,  and  declined, 
so  soon  as  I  had  learned,  from  Mr.  Baring,  that  he  was  quite  wil- 
ling to  aid  me  in  the  execution  of  my  own  project,  namely,  the 
establishment  of  a  concern  at  New  Orleans.  I  had,  he  thought, 
made  an  excellent  selection,  and  such  a  house,  in  possession  of  the 
confidence  of  good  European  houses,  must  be  successful.  My  re- 
fusal displeased  Parish,  as  much  as  my  preceding  one  had  annoyed 
Mr.  Labouchere ;  but  I  felt  myself  sufficiently  \pell  sustained  in 
Mr.  Alexander  Baring's  approbation  of  my  project  to  return  to 
the  United  States  ;  for  he  was  also  of  the  opinion,  that,  in  either  of 
the  cases  referred  to,  it-  would  have  been  rather  a  hazardous  under- 
taking to  unite  with  a  partner  in  whom  I  could  feel  no  confidence. 
Parish  returned,  within  fourteen  days,  from  the  settlement  of 
his  business  in  Amsterdam.  Of  the  details,  I  have  learned  more 
from  him  than  I  knew  from  personal  observation.  The  lands  re- 
mained, as  he  had  desired,  on  his  own  account.  Mr.  Labouchere 
declined  his  proposal,  to  divide  the  half  commission,  guarantied 
by  Echeverria  and  Septien,  which,  as  the  reader  may  remember, 
amounted  to  $260,000,  between  my  friend  Lestapis  and  myself, 
as  he  thought  it  dangerous  to  place  young  men  in  possession  of 
so  much  capital  all  at  once,  and  because  Ouvrard,  whom  Napo- 
leon's measures  had  prostrated,  had  been  the  originator  of  the 
whole  business,  to  which  they  were  indebted  for  such  advantages, 
and  that  he  had  now  reappeared  on  the  scene,  and  consequently 
was  the  best  entitled  to  the  money.  Hereupon  the  whole  sum 
was  presented  to  him.  After  the  sum  of  £83,500  had  been  put 
aside,  with  a  view  to  meeting  the  lawsuit  carried  on  by  Sarmiento, 
and  other  similar  eventualities,  the  amount  of  profit  remaining  in 
this  business  was  not  less  than  the  heavy  sum  of  £778,750  ster- 
ling. Mr.  Henry  Hope,  of  London,  to  whom  the  settlement  that 
had  taken  place  in  Amsterdam  was  communicated,  was  of  the 
opinion,  that  the  above  £83,500  sterling  might  also  be  divided,  as 
it  was  not  probable  that,  particularly  after  such  enormous  profits, 
they  should  ever,  by  an  unlucky  chance,  be  left  without  the  means 


M  THE  PROFITS.  178 

of  replacing  this  sum.  The  opinion  of  Mr.  Hope  met  with  gene- 
ral approbation,  and  the  whole  profit  to  be  divided  was  set  down 
at  £862,250  sterling.  In  connection  with  this  business  there  ex- 
isted, in  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Hope,  a  separate  book  account, 
which  the  uninitiated  of  the  office  had  never  been  permitted  to 
see.  In  computing  this  profit,  no  reference  is  made  to  the  gain 
which  flowed  in  to  the  Messrs.  Hope  and  Baring  alone,  without 
the  participation  of  Parish  upon  the  millions  of  Spanish  dollars 
which  were  shipped  at  Vera  Cruz,  in  English  frigates,  and  brought 
by  them  direct  to  London.  Nor  must  we  leave  out  of  sight  the 
great  advantages  secured  by  commissions  on  the  sale  of  the  nume- 
rous cargoes  sent  on  American  account  to  Amsterdam,  Rotterdam, 
Antwerp,  and  Hamburgh  (later  Toenningen).  According  to  the 
instructions  given  to  Parish,  the  cargoes  destined  for  Hamburgh 
were  to  have  been  sent  to  the  Messrs.  Matthieson  &  Sillem,  Hope's 
own  correspondent,  but  he  dispatched  them  to  the  house  of  his  bro- 
ther. Mr.  Le  Ray  de  Chaumont,  who  had  sold  Parish  the  greater 
portion  of  his  newly-acquired  lands,  and  who  had  been  brooding 
for  years  over  the  unproductive  portion  of  them,  was  now,  ac- 
cording to  the  French  proverb,  "  L' Appetit  vient  en  mangeant" — 
keenly  urged  by  a  desire  to  make  further  sales.  He  had  followed 
close  at  the  heels  of  Parish,  and  when  the  latter  repaired  to  Paris, 
after  completing  his  business  at  Amsterdam,  he  also  hastened  to 
that  capitol.  Mr.  Labouchere  and  I  were  also  there  at  the  time. 
Business  had  brought  the  former  gentlemen  thither,  but  I  had 
come  for  no  other  purpose,  than  to  bid  a  brief  farewell  to  this  my 
favorite  place  of  sojourn.  Soon  afterwards  Le  Ray  arrived,  to 
present  himself  once  more  with  his  maps,  calculations,  and  plans. 
Parish  had  appointed  a  dinner,  at  the  then  celebrated  restaurant 
of  Robert,  at  which  the  American  land  speculator,  Mr.  Labou- 
chere, his  friend  Moritz  Von  Bethmann,  from  Frankfort,  and  I. 
were  present.  Mr.  Le  Ray  de  Chaumont  expatiated  to  such  a 
degree,  in  relation  to  the  immense  prospective  advantages  con- 
nected with  these  lands,  that  Mr.  Labouchere,  who  could  not  fail 
to  see  through  the  whole  business,  suddenly  turned  to  Parish,  and 
remarked,  that  he  would  sooner  or  later  have  to  rue  his  heavy 
purchases  of  lands.     "  I  think,  on  the  contrary,"  replied  Parish, 


174  ONCE  MORE  TO  Lv  NDON. 

"  that  it  will  be  yourself  who  will,  at  least,  inevitably  regret  that 
you  did  not  sdso  purchase  a  portion  of  them."  Labouchere  was 
always  ready  for  a  repartee,  so  replied,  "  I  will  never  regret  your 
success  ;  and  the  greatest  pleasure  you  would  occasion  me  would 
be,  to  prove  one  day  that  I  have  been  mistaken.  But  I  am  afraid, 
for  your  sake,  that  I  will  have  to  adjourn  that  gratification  for 
some  time  to  come."  Mr.  Le  Ray  at  once  comprehended  that 
his  fine  projects  did  not  take  in  this  direction,  and  became  silent. 
When  taking  my  coffee,  after  dinner,  I  remarked  to  Mr.  Labou- 
chere, that  the  whole  tenor  of  his  conversation  had  not  been  of  a 
nature  calculated  to  gratify  or  encourage  Parish.  Has  reply  was, 
that  he  always  wished  to  cut  short  the  talk  of  Mr.  Le  Ray,  and 
other  similar  speculators,  and  to  keep  his  house  clear  of  foolish 
projects ;  and,  as  far  as  Parish  was  concerned,  he  added,  "  he  will 
only  too  soon  find  out  that  he  has  committed  a  piece  of  folly." 

Some  people  in  Europe,  particularly  in  Hamburgh,  are  inclined 
to  ascribe  very  great  value  to  these  lands,  on  which  such  enor- 
mous sums  of  money  had  been  expended,  and  to  regard  them  as 
mines  of  wealth.  But  if  any  one  will  only  reckon  up  the  capital 
laid  out,  and  that  too  at  a  very  moderate  estimate — say  $700,000, 
and  the  real  sum  was  much  more— and  then  add  three  per  cent, 
interest,  remembering  all  the  while  that,  during  a  space  of  thirty- 
five  years,  the  property  has  returned  no  interest  whatever,  and 
scarcely  even  covered  the  expenses  of  keeping  it,  they  will  dis- 
cover that  these  lands  must  now  be  worth,  at  the  least,  $2,000,000. 
Since  the  discovery  of  some  veins  of  iron  ore  it  has,  under  good 
management,  at  least  returned  some  interest ;  whether  the  latter 
amounts  to  the  nett  sum  of  $60,000,  can  be  known  only  to  the 
Parish  family,  into  whose  hands  it  fell  after  David's  death ;  but  I 
cannot  suppress  the  doubt,  that  it  does  not  reach  that  sum. 

Having  at  length  come  to  an  understanding  with  Mr.  Labou- 
chere, in  regard  to  what  his  house  was  disposed  to  do  for  me,  and 
in  common  with  the  Barings,  in  case  I  carried  out  my  design  of 
opening  an  establishment  at  New  Orleans,  I  once  more  went  to 
London.  My  first  visit,  of  course,  was  to  Mr.  Alexander  Baring, 
who,  having  been  already  informed  by  Mr.  Labouchere,  invited 
me  to  visit  him  in  the  country,  on  the  ensuing  Saturday.     He 


NEW  ARRANGEMENTS.  175 

had  a  very  pleasant  villa  at  Carshalton,  where  he  received  me  at 
the  appointed  time,  and  where  I  remained  until  the  next  Monday. 
The  hours  passed  there  were  spent  in  a  very  pleasant  manner,  but 
not  a  moment  could  be  found  for  an  interview  respecting  the 
object  of  my  visit — for  even  in  his  solitude  he  was  overwhelmed 
with  a  thousand  matters  of  importance.  At  length,  before  break- 
fast, on  Monday  morning,  he  told  me  that  he  would  drive  into 
the  city  in  his  curricle ;  and  we  had  scarcely  started  before  he 
began,  in  the  carriage,  and  without  any  opening  of  the  conversa- 
tion on  my  part,  to  express  a  clear  and  well-arranged  proposition, 
in  relation  to  the  intended  support  of  my  plans.  This  consisted 
in  a  capital  of  £6,000  sterling,  advanced  for  five  years,  at  five  per 
cent.,  and  a  blank  credit  in  favor  of  my  business  for  £10,000  more. 
It  was,  at  the  same  time,  to  be  understood,  that  the  two  houses 
of  Hope  and  Baring  should  be  named  in  my  circular,  as  leading 
friends  and  references.  In  examining  an  extract  from  my  account 
with  the  London  house,  I  found,  in  addition  to  the  considerable 
sums  due  to  me  on  my  agency,  a  round  balance  of  £1,000  ster- 
ling, whose  source  I  could  not  conjecture,  placed  to  my  credit. 
Upon  inquiry  I  learned,  that  when  the  final  settlement  was  made 
in  Amsterdam,  it  had  been  determined  to  allow  me  this  bonus,  on 
account  of  the  numerous  items  of  outlay  which  I  might  have  had 
in  the  course  of  my  agency,  without  making  any  note  of  the  same. 
In  fact,  they  had  discovered  a  marked  difference  between  the 
statement  I  had  made  out,  of  my  travelling  and  sundry  expenses, 
and  those  of  the  other  gentlemen,  which  were,  one  and  all,  charged 
against  the  general  enterprise. 

I  looked  about  me  in  London  for  a  capable  and  active  young 
man,  calculated  to  inspire  and  retain  confidence,  and  found  such  a 
one  in  a  young  Livonian,  named  Edward  Hollander,  from  Riga. 
My  good  friend,  Frederick  W.  Brederlow,  from  the  formerly 
well-known  house  of  Messrs.  Joachim  Ebel  Schmidt  &  Co.,  of 
that  city,  had  specially  recommended  him  to  me.  In  Liverpool 
I  found  the  same  Captain  Stirling  who  had  brought  me,  in  the 
month  of  July,  1805,  in  the  good  ship  Flora,  from  Amsterdam  to 
New  York,  for  the  first  time.  Of  course  I  willingly  gave  him  and 
his  new  vessel,  which  he  called  the  Aristomenes,  the  preference 


176  SAIL  FOR  AMERICA. 

over  all  the  rest  then  lading  for  New  York,  and  embarked  with 
my  travelling  companion,  in  September,  1811.  It  was  exactly  the 
season  of  the  equinoctial  storms,  and  also  the  famous  year  of  the 
great  comet,  which  remained  visible  for  such  a  length  of  time,  and 
whose  influence,  as  was  afterwards  affirmed,  beneficially  affected 
the  vintage  on  the  Rhine,  and  the  banks  of  the  Garonne.  We 
lost  but  two  masts  on  that  perilous  voyage,  but  safely  reached 
New  York  after  a  passage  of  forty-eight  days.  I  was  anxious  to 
acquire  some  knowledge  of  the  far  western  regions,  whose  rich 
and  manifold  productions,  of  all  kinds,  were  carried  down  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  destined  to  be  the  sources  of  the 
prosperity  of  New  Orleans,  although  their  banks  were  then  but 
thinly  populated,  and  were  almost  entirely  wild  and  unreclaimed. 
In  pursuance  of  this  desire,  I  resolved  to  cross  the  Alleghany 
mountains  to  Pittsburgh,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  there 
purchase  a  couple  of  flat-boats,  in  which  I  and  my  companion 
would  quietly  float  down  the  rapid  stream  to  New  Orleans,  about 
2,000  miles.  The  only  other  means  usual  at  that  time,  for  passage 
or  transportation  on  the  two  rivers,  was  by  keel-boats,  as  they  are 
called.  These  were  long  narrow  barks,  which  would  contain  at 
the  farthest  about  two  hundred  barrels  of  flour,  and  which  could 
complete  the  journey,  by  the  use  of  oars,  in  from  thirty  to  thirty- 
five  days ;  while  the  flat-boats,  which  were  only  steered,  consumed 
forty  or  fifty  days  in  making  the  same  distance.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, were  more  convenient  for  the  transportation  of  passengers, 
since  there  was  space  enough  on  them  to  put  up  quite  a  snug 
sleeping-room,  with  beds,  &c.,  and  a  convenient  kitchen  and  dining- 
room.  I  sent  my  friend  Hollander  a  fortnight  in  advance  of  me, 
to  Pittsburgh,  to  purchase  two  such  flat-boats,  one  for  our  own 
use,  and  the  other  to  accommodate  my  horse  with  a  stall.  More- 
over, we  could  thus  take  along  with  us  some  four  hundred  bar- 
rels of  flour,  which  could  always  be  disposed  of  to  advantage  at 
New  Orleans,  and  would  suffice  to  pay  the  expenses  of  our  jour- 
ney. I  managed  to  procure  an  excellent  horse  in  Philadelphia, 
and,  with  my  saddle-bags  strapped  to  his  back,  I  started  in  De- 
cember alone,  on  my  way  to  Pittsburgh.  It  was  very  cold.  I 
rode,  early  one  morning,  entirely  alone,  over  the  loftiest  summit 


AUDUBON  177 

of  the  Alleghany  ridge,  called  Laurel  Hill,  and  about  ten  o'clock 
arrived  at  a  small  inn,  close  by  the  Falls  of  the  Juniata  river. 
Here  I  ordered  a  substantial  breakfast.  The  landlady  showed  me 
into  a  room,  and  said,  I  perhaps  would  not  object  to  taking  my 
meal  at  the  same  table  with  a  strange  gentleman,  who  was  already 
there.  As  I  entered  I  found  the  latter  personage,  who  at  once 
struck  me  as  being,  what,  in  common  parlance,  is  called  an  odd  fish. 
He  was  sitting  at  a  table,  before  the  fire,  with  a  Madras  hand- 
kerchief wound  around  his  head,  exactly  in  the  style  of  the  French 
mariners,  or  laborers,  in  a  seaport  town.  I  stepped  up  to  him, 
and  accosted  him  politely,  with  the  words,  "  I  hope  I  don't  incom- 
mode you,  by  coming  to  take  my  breakfast  with  you."  "  Oh  no, 
sir,"  he  replied,  with  a  strong  French  accent,  that  made  it  sound 
like  "No,  sare."  "Ah,"  I  continued,  "  you  are  a  Frenchman,  sir1?" 
"  No,  sare,"  he  answered,  "  hi  emm  an  Heenglishman."  "  Why," 
I  asked,  in  return,  "  how  do  you  make  that  out?  You  look  like 
a  Frenchman,  and  you  speak  like  one."  "  Hi  emm  an  Eenglish- 
man,  becas  hi  got  a  Heenglish  wife,"  he  answered.  Without  in- 
vestigating the  matter  further,  we  made  up  our  minds,  at  break- 
fast, to  remain  in  company,  and  to  ride  together  to  Pittsburgh. 
He  showed  himself  to  be  an  original  throughout,  but  at  last  ad- 
mitted that  he  was  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  and  a  native  of  La  Ro- 
chelle.  However,  he  had  come  in  his  early  youth  to  Louisiana, 
had  grown  up  in  the  sea-service,  and  had  gradually  become  a  tho- 
rough American.  "  Now,"  I  asked,  "  ho#  does  that  accord  with 
your  quality  of  Englishman  V  Upon  this  he  found  it  convenient 
to  reply,  in  the  French  language,  "  When  all  is  said  and  done,  I 
am  somewhat  cosmopolitan  ;  I  belong  to  every  country."  This 
man,  who  afterwards  won  for  himself  so  great  a  name  in  natural 
history,  particularly  in  ornithology,  was  Audubon,  who,  however, 
was  by  no  means  thinking,  at  that  time,  of  occupying  himself  with 
the  study  of  natural  history.* 

*  In  a  third  volume  of  Audubon's  great,  costly,  and  now  very  rare  work  on 
"  American  Ornithology,"  there  is  a  circumstantial  account  of  our  meeting 
near  the  Falls  of  Juniata,  and  a  flattering  acknowledgment  of  the  little  service 
I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  have  the  opportunity  of  rendering  my  companion  at 
that  time,  and  afterwards  upon  the  oocasioK  of  his  journey  to  England. 


178  AUDUBON 

He  wanted  to  be  a  merchant,  and  had  married  the  daughter  of 
an  Englishman,  named  Bakewell,  formerly  of  Philadelphia,  but 
then  residing  and  owning  mills  at  Shippingport,  at  the  Falls  of 
the  Ohio,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Louisville.  It  was  also  his 
intention  to  travel  down  the  Ohio  into  Kentucky.  At  Pittsburgh, 
he  found  no  other  opportunity  of  doing  so  than  the  one  offered  by 
my  flat-boats,  and,  as  he  was  a  good  companionable  man,  and, 
moreover,  an  accomplished  sketcher,  I  invited  him  to  take  a  birth 
in  our  cabin  gratis.  He  thankfully  accepted  the  invitation,  and 
we  left  Pittsburgh,  in  very  cold  weather,  with  the  Monongahela 
and  Ohio  rivers  full  of  drifting  ice,  in  the  beginning  of  January, 
1812.  I  learned  nothing  further  of  his  travelling  plans  until  we 
reached  Limestone,  a  little  place  at  the  northwestern  corner  of 
the  State  of  Ohio.  There  we  had  both  our  horses  taken  ashore, 
and  I  resolved  to  go  with  him  overland,  at  first  to  visit  the  capi- 
tal, Lexington,  and  from  there  to  Louisville,  where  he  expected  to 
find  his  wife  and  his  parents-in-law.  My  two  boats,  which  I  had 
left  under  the  charge  of  Hollander,  were  to  meet  me  at  the  same 
place.  We  had  scarcely  finished  our  breakfast,  at  Limestone, 
when  Audubon,  all  at  once,  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  exclaimed,  in 
French,  "  Now  I  am  going  to  lay  the  foundation  of  my  establish- 
ment." So  saying,  he  took  a  small  packet  of  address  cards  and 
a  hammer  from  his  coat  pocket,  some  nails  from  his  vest,  and 
began  to  nail  up  one  of  the  cards  to  the  door  of  the  tavern,  where 
we  were  taking  our  meal.  The  address  ran  as  follows  :  "Audu- 
bon &  Bakewell,  Commission  Merchants  (Pork,  Lard,  and  Flour), 
New  Orleans"  Oh,  oh !  thought  I,  there  you  have  competition 
before  you  have  got  to  the  place  yourself.  Yet,  as  this  com- 
mission house  could  not  refer  to  the  influential  name  of  the 
Messrs.  Hope,  or  of  Messrs.  Baring,  and  as  pork  and  lard,  more- 
over, were  not  articles  which  had  any  very  great  attraction  for  me, 
in  the  way  of  trade,  I  consoled  myself  with  the  thought,  that  com- 
petition of  this  nature  could  not  amount  to  much. 

From  Limestone,  Audubon  and  I  rode  on  together  as  far  as 
Lexington,  the  capital  of  Kentucky.  It  was  then  a  flourishing 
little  town,  where  I  heard  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  a  highly-gifted 
lawyer,  who  during  the  elections  for  members  of  Congress,  had 


"GOUGING.*  179 

distinguished  himself  in  the  taverns  and  streets,  by  all  sorts  of 
brawls  and  fisticuff  battles.  This  man  was  no  other  than  Henry 
Clay,  whose  reputation  soon  after  began  to  rise  so  rapidly.  He 
was  then  a  member  of  Congress  ;  but  his  external  appearance  was 
by  no  means  calculated  to  convey  any  very  high  idea  of  his  in- 
tellectual capacity,  although  he  had,  as  early  as  the  period  of 
which  I  speak,  already  acquired  great  celebrity  as  an  orator. 

A  frightfully  cruel  practice  prevailed  at  that  time  among  the 
greater  part  of  the  rude  inhabitants  of  the  western  states.  It  con- 
sisted in  allowing  the  finger-nails  to  grow  so  long,  that,  by  cutting 
them,  you  could  give  them  the  form  of  a  small  sickle,  and  this 
strange  weapon  was  used,  in  the  broils  that  constantly  occurred,  to 
cut  out  the  eyes  of  the  hostile  party.  This  barbarous  action  was 
called  gouging.  Upon  this  excursion  through  Kentucky  I  saw 
several  persons  who  lacked  an  eye,  and  others,  both  of  whose 
eyes  were  disfigured.  The  exasperation  then  reigning  throughout 
the  United  States,  in  relation  to  the  difficulties  with  England,  was 
much  greater  in  the  western  provinces  than  along  the  sea  coast, 
and  the  feeling  was  very  intense.  As  I  passed  through  Frankfort, 
on  my  way  from  Lexington  to  Louisville,  I  was  told  that  the 
legislature  of  Kentucky  was  just  then  in  session.  I  resolved  to 
go  thither,  so  that  I  might  compare  that  body  with  the  sessions  of 
the  territorial  legislature  of  Louisiana,  which  I  had  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  observing  in  New  Orleans,  and  which  was  made  up  of 
the  most  singular  mixture  of  native  born  Americans,  and  men  of 
"French  and  Spanish  extraction.  I  had  scarcely  entered  the  legis- 
lative hall,  when  I  heard  a  very  enthusiastic  orator  dealing  forth 
a  violent  diatribe  against  England,  with  the  following  words : 
"  We  must  have  war  with  Great  Britain — war  will  ruin  her  com- 
merce— commerce  is  the  apple  in  Britain's  eye — there  we  must 
gouge  her  !"  This  flower  of  oratory  was  received  with  great  ap- 
plause ;  and,  it  must  be  confessed,  that  for  such  a  population  as 
most  of  the  inhabitants  of  Kentucky  formed  at  that  period,  it  was 
extremely  well  timed,  and  betrayed  a  certain  poetic  sweep  of 
thought.  The  North  Americans  in  general  possess  often  an  un 
mistakable  keenness  of  perception,  which  quickly  enables  them 
to  catch  a  certain   similarity  between  two   altogether   different 


180  AN  EARTHQUAKE, 

things.  Among  them  one  frequently  hears  comparisons  of  the 
most  striking  description,  from  the  lips  of  the  most  uneducated 
men.  To  the  happiest  of  these,  which  have  reached  us  from  the 
other  side  of  the  ocean,  perhaps  belongs  one  that  was  made  by 
the  American  poet  Barlow,  the  author  of  the  Columbiad.  Every 
one  who,  during  his  time,  understood  and  spoke  the  English  lan- 
guage, was  full  of  the  splendid  phraseology  of  the  English  orator 
Burke,  who,  in  his  enthusiasm,  so  often  rose  to  an  almost  im- 
measurable height.  Barlow,  who  had  heard  him,  and  who  had 
either  been  unable  to  follow  him  in  his  logical  conclusions,  or  had, 
as  he  thought,  found  no  sound  argument  in  what  he  said,  broke 
out  into  the  exclamation,  "  He  rises  like  a  rocket,  spreads  a  glar- 
ing light,  and  comes  down  like  a  stick !" 

I  was  riding  alone  through  the  vast  forest  which  separates  Frank- 
fort from  Louisville,  when,  all  at  once,  my  horse,  as  if  struck  by 
lightning,  suddenly  stood  still — the  trees  around  us  had  for  some 
seconds  exhibited  a  strange  heaving  and  waving  motion.  The 
animal  I  bestrode  obeyed  the  spur,  when  I  attempted  to  force  him 
onward,  with  a  sort  of  terror,  again  stood  suddenly  still  for  an 
instant,  and  then  finally  advanced  in  a  tremor.  It  was  some  time 
before  he  fell  into  his  usual  pace.  Upon  my  arrival  in  Louisville 
I  was  at  once  surrounded  at  the  tavern  door,  and  pertinaciously 
asked  if  I  had  noticed  anything  of  the  earthquake,  and  I  felt  au- 
thorized to  say  that  I  had.  The  Ohio  had  been  frozen  over  for  sev- 
eral days,  and  for  more  than  a  week  past  no  boat  had  descended  the 
stream ;  hence  my  boats  and  my  friend  Hollander  were  frozen  up 
on  the  way  between  Limestone  and  Louisville.  Three  days  after- 
wards, just  as  we  had  all  sat  down  to  dinner,  the  whole  house  was 
violently  shaken ;  glasses,  plates,  and  bottles  jingled,  and  fell  from 
the  board ;  most  of  the  guests  leaped  to  their  feet,  exclaiming, 
"  There's  the  earthquake,  by  jingo !  there  is  no  humbug  about  it!" 
as  they  rushed  into  the  street.  But  all  was  still  again,  and  every 
one  gradually  returned  to  his  house.  Early  the  next  morning  I 
learned  that  the  earthquake  had  loosened  the  ice  from  the  Ohio, 
and  had  again  opened  the  current  of  the  stream,  and  that  several 
boats,  among  others  two  flats,  fastened  together,  had  been  carried 
down  over  the  Falls  lying  between  Louisville  and  the  little  town 


CARICATURE  OF  MADISON.  181 

of  Shippingport,  situated  at  the  distance  of  a  few  miles  from  the 
former  place.  I  at  once  rode  over  to  Shippingport,  and  there 
found  my  boats  and  my  companion  in  safety.  So  soon  as  we  had 
replenished  and  increased  our  stock  of  provisions  I  returned  to  my 
boats,  and,  having  recommenced  our  journey,  we  in  a  few  days  left 
the  dear  transparent  waters  of  the  Ohio,  and  passed  by  its  junction 
with  the  mighty  Mississippi  into  the  thick  and  turbid  flood  of  the  lat- 
ter stream.  We  floated  on  quietly  for  several  days,  arresting  our 
course,  as  was  usual,  at  night,  and  securing  our  boats  in  any  way 
we  could  to  the  river  bank.  In  flat-boat  journeys  like  ours  it  is  a 
rule  never  to  trust  your  craft  in  the  night  to  the  force  of  the  cur- 
rent, for  the  surface  of  the  water  is  so  frequently  broken  by  trees 
(which  have  been  swept  away  from  the  shore,  and  then  become 
fast  imbedded  in  the  bottom  of  the  river,  where  they  remain  im- 
movable, and  are  designated  by  the  name  of  planters,  as  well  as 
by  those  which  are,  likewise,  fast  imbedded,  but  have  a  constant 
up  and  down  motion,  whence  they  are  known  by  the  title  of 
sawyers),  that  it  is  almost  an  impossibility  to  avoid  them  at  night, 
and,  in  fact,  to  do  so  is  difficult  in  broad  daylight.  In  this  way 
we  reached  the  small  town  of  New  Madrid,  on  the  6th  of  Feb*  u- 
ary.  Some  twenty  boats,  which  had  left  Shippingport  at  the 
same  time  with  us,  kept  us  company.  It  was  a  clear  moonlight 
night:  my  friend  Hollander  had  retired  to  rest,  and  I  was  sitting, 
about  twelve  o'clock,  at  a  little  table,  sketching  a  caricature  of 
Madison,*  then  President  of  the  United  States,  and  of  whom  it 
was  said,  that  he  was  under  petticoat  government.  Madison  had 
shortly  before  issued  a  proclamation,  in  which  he  called  upon  the 
American  people  "to  put  on  armor,  and  assume  a  warlike  atti- 
tude." My  caricature  represented  him  in  a  general's  uniform,  in 
an  attitude  as  if  he  were  calling  out  troops ;  his  wife  stood  beside 
him,  with  a  military  chapeau  on  her  head,  a  musket  on  her  shoul- 
der, and  arrayed  in  the  red  breeches  which  her  predecessor  JefFer- 

*  I  sent  this  caricature  to  David  Parish,  who  hung  ituj.  for  years  in  his  bed- 
chamber, at  Ogdensburgh.  From  his  hands  it  passed  into  the  possession  of 
Dennis  A.  Smith,  the  well  known  Cashier  of  the  Mechanics'  Bank,  in  Balti- 
more, and  thence,  several  years  later,  it  came  back  to  me,  after  tljat  bank 
broke. 


182  ANOTHER  EARTHQUAKE : 

son  was  known  to  have  brought  from  France,  after  the  revolu 
tionary  period,  when  he  resided  at  Paris  as  Ambassador,  and  was 
generally  asserted  to  have  worn.  I  had  just  given  the  last  touches 
to  the  somewhat  dilapidated  red  hose,  when  there  came  a  frightful 
crash,  like  a  sudden  explosion  of  artillery,  and  instantly  followed 
by  countless  flashes  of  lightning  ;  the  Mississippi  foamed  up  like 
the  water  in  a  boiling  cauldron,  and  the  stream  flowed  rushing 
back,  while  the  forest  trees,  near  which  we  lay,  came  cracking  and 
thundering  down.  This  fearful  spectacle  lasted  for  several  min- 
utes ;  and  the  fierce  flashes  of  lightning,  the  rush  of  the  receding 
waters,  and  the  crash  of  the  falling  trees,  seemed  as  if  they  would 
never  end.  Hollander,  starting  half-way  up  from  his  bed,  hur- 
riedly exclaimed,  "  What  is  that,  Nolte  1"  What  other  answer 
could  I  give  him  but  that  I  myself  did  not  know,  yet  supposed  it 
to  be  the  effect  of  an  earthquake.  I  clambered  up  to  the  roof  of 
our  boat.  What  a  spectacle  !  Our  flats  were  indeed  still  float- 
ing, but  far  away  from  the  shore  where  we  had  moored  them  at 
nightfall.  The  agitated  water  all  around  us,  full  of  trees  and 
branches,  which  the  stream,  now  flowing  in  its  proper  current, 
was  rapidly  sweeping  away,  and  a  light  only  here  and  there  visible 
from  the  town — in  short,  a  real  chaos.  The  feeble  crew,  which  I  had 
brought  along  with  me  from  Pittsburgh,  to  man  my  flat-boats,  con- 
sisted of  three  sailors,  whom  want  of  employment  at  the  seaports, 
while  the  embargo  lasted,  had  driven  to  that  inland  city,  and  a 
river  pilot,  acquainted  with  those  streams.  They  told  me  that  the 
boats  around  us  had  let  go  the  tackle  which  secured  them  to  the 
shore,  and  were  now  floating  down  the  stream,  and  asking  whether 
we  had  not  better  do  the  same  thing.  I  at  once  reflected  that  if, 
under  the  usual  circumstances,  it  was  dangerous,  and  therefore  by 
no  means  advisable,  to  trust  to  the  stream  in  the  night,  it  must 
now  be  much  more  so,  when  the  danger  was  greatly  increased  by 
the  trees  which  the  earthquake  had  loosened  and  driven  away, 
and  that  consequently  it  would  be  a  better  plan  to  remain  where 
we  were  until  daylight  had  returned,  and  we  could  see  our  way. 
At  sunrise  the  whole  terrible  scene  was  disclosed  to  our  gaze,  and 
the  little  town  of  New  Madrid,  sunken,  destroyed,  and  overflowed 
to  three-fourths  of  its  extent,  lay  more  than  five  hundred  paces 


ITS  DISASTROUS  RESULTS.  183 

from  us,  with  some  of  its  scattered  inhabitants  here  and  there  vis- 
ible among  the  ruins.  Our  boats  were  fixed  in  the  middle  of  an 
island  formed  by  fallen  trees,  and  several  hours  passed  before  the 
crew  could  cut  a  passage  for  them,  and  get  them  out.  At  length 
we  were  again  floating  on  the  stream,  and  continued  our  course, 
by  day's  journeys,  until  we  arrived,  on  the  thirty-second  day 
after  our  departure  from  Pittsburgh,  in  Natchez,  in  the  State 
of  Mississippi.  Here,  where  we  heard  all  kinds  of  details 
concerning  the  earthquake,  as  it  had  been  noticed  in  that  place, 
we  remained  a  week,  during  which  time  not  a  single  one  of  the 
boats  arrived  that  had  surrounded  us  on  the  evening  of  the  6th  of 
February.  When  we  reached  New  Orleans,  we  learned  that  the 
earthquake  had  not  been  any  farther  perceptible  there,  than  that 
the  chandeliers  in  the  ball-room  had  all  at  once  been  observed  to 
rock  from  side  to  side,  and  that  a  number  of  ladies  had  felt  quite 
ill,  while  others  instantly  fainted.  This  remarkable  earthquake, 
which  was  so  disastrous  in  its  consequences,  commenced  in  the 
northwestern  part  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  shook  the  whole  extent 
of  Louisiana  more  or  less,  and  stretched  throughout  the  whole 
region  lying  around  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  as  far  as  Caraccas,  where 
it  finally  raged  with  terrible  fury,  almost  entirely  destroying  that 
town  itself,  and  reducing  to  poverty,  or  swallowing  up,  40,000  in- 
habitants there,  and  in  several  other  places  in  the  neighborhood. 
Of  the  boats  which  surrounded  us  on  the  evening  of  February  6th 
nothing  was  ever  afterwards  heard,  and  we  should  probably  have 
shared  the  same  fate,  had  it  not  been  for  the  plan  we  adopted  of 
remaining  by  the  shore. 

I  have  always  regarded  it  as  a  great  gift  of  heaven,  that  amid 
the  many  serious  dangers  in  which  I  have  been  frequently  ex- 
posed during  the  course  of  my  life,  I  was  ever  able  to  retain  a 
certain  tranquillity,  and  iry  entire  presence  of  mind. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

NEW    ORLEANS 

New  Orleans — My  first  arrangements — Congress  declares  war  agiainst  Eng- 
land June  18th,  1812 — David  Parish  assumes  one  of  the  Government  loans 
on  his  own  responsibility,  and  thus  gives  rise  to  embarrassment  in  his 
affairs — The  Peace  confirmed  at  Ghent,  in  December,  1814,  happily  extri- 
cates him — Tropical  hurricane  at  New  Orleans,  in  the  fall  of  1812 — Frac- 
ture of  my  right  arm,  in  the  year  1814 — Needless  suspension  of  specie  pay- 
ments by  the  New  Orleans  banks — Appointed,  by  the  Exchange,  a  member 
of  the  Committee  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  things,  and  report  there- 
upon, as  framer  of  the  report — I  get  into  personal  difficulty — The  origin  of 
my  first  duel,  with  an  opponent  never  known  to  me  or  seen  by  me  before — 
A  business  operation  in  Pensacola,  by  way  of  the  two  lakes — Borgne 
and  Pontchartrain,  adjacent  to  New  Orleans — The  fleet  of  small  craft  I  take 
across  them,  laden  with  cotton — I  arrive  with  them  in  Mobile  bay,  there 
await  the  result  of  the  first  bombardment  of  the  fort,  and  take  advantage  of 
the  moment  when  the  English  fleet  are  hauling  off,  after  their  repulse,  to 
run  into  Pensacola  during  the  night — I  am  saddled  with  fresh  difficulties 
bv  the  Clique  of  the  Bank  Cashier,  Saul  in  New  Orleans ;  for  iustance,  in 
an  affair  with  the  Marine  Paymaster,  Shields — Interruption  of  my  quarrel, 
by  the  arrival  of  the  English  fleet  in  the  Gulf  of  Florida. 

New  Orleans,  which  I  had  left  more  than  four  and  a  half  years 
previously,  had  in  that  time  made  no  inconsiderable  progress — 
there  had  been  a  great  deal  of  new  building,  and  it  was  much  im- 
proved. The  character  of  its  population,  however,  had  gained 
nothing.  Its  old  original  inhabitants,  of  French  and  Spani  h  ori 
gin,  had  always  shown  a  certain  openness,  good  faith  and  sir  cerity, 
in  their  mercantile  intercourse  ;  but  the  lawyers  who  came  thither 
from  the  northern  states,  and  whose  interest  it  was  to  stir  up  liti- 
gation to  keep  themselves  from  starving,  had,  by  a  certain  ac- 
quaintance with  the  technicalities  of  American  jurisprudence,  and 
by  a  spirit  of  low  cunning  and  adroitness  which  they  introduced, 


WAR  DECLARED.  185 

and  even  managed  to  communicate  to  some  of  the  old  inhabitants, 
been  the  real  cause  of  this  moral  retrogression.  Governor  Clai- 
borne it  was  who  brought  election  intrigue  into  fashion,  and 
thereby  succeeded  in  undermining  the  honorable  and  amiable  cha- 
racter of  the  original  Creoles.  Social  life  had  rather  been  im- 
paired than  improved  in  its  relations. 

I  had  just  procured  a  dwelling-house,  and  furnished  it,  when  the 
news  reached  us,  from  Washington,  that  war  had  been  declared 
against  England  on  the  18th  of  June.  This  brought  all  the  pro- 
jects which  I  had  been  erecting  upon  my  business  relations  with 
Europe  to  the  ground,  and  all  the  advantages  1  was  entitled  to 
expect  from  them  vanished  out  of  my  hands.  Let  any  one,  who 
can,  form  an  idea  of  the  situation  in  which  I  suddenly  found  my- 
self placed. 

David  Parish,  as  I  have  already  stated,  had  returned  from  Eu- 
rope, during  the  fall  of  1811,  with  great  schemes  in  his  head.  It 
had  been  his  intention  to  withdraw  altogether  from  European 
business,  and  to  give  up  his  interest  in  the  Antwerp  house.  But 
his  partner,  Mr.  G.  Agie.  one  of  the  most  upright  and  shrewd 
merchants  I  ever  knew,  would  not  spare  his  name  from  the  firm, 
and  the  latter  accordingly  remained  David  Parish,  Agie  &  Co. 
However,  Parish  had  left  no  money  in  the  concern.  The  h^avy 
consignments  it  had  received,  by  means  of  the  advances  made  by 
him  with  the  capital  gathered  from  Mexico,  and  which  it  still 
continued  to  receive,  were,  as  a  matter  of  course,  favorable  like- 
wise to  Agie,  and  had  indeed  helped  him  to  acquire  a  much  larger 
fortune  than  he  had  ever  expected  to  make.  Upon  his  return  to 
the  United  States,  Parish  had  brought  along  with  him  the  French 
architect  Ramee,  who  was  the  builder  of  the  first  Borsenkalle  or 
Bourse  of  Hamburgh,  which  he  put  up  for  Mr.  Von  Hostrup :  in 
addition  to  this  individual  he  also  brought,  either  through  charity 
or  as  a  companion,  a  French  painter  of  miniatures,  a  man  already 
far  advanced  in  years — a  bon  enfant,  bon  mangeur,  bon  faiseur,  de 
calembourgs — in  short,  a  farceur,  who,  like  Shakespeare's  FalstafF, 
was  not  only  witty  himself,  but  furnished  ample  material  for  the 
wit  of  others :  this  party  of  useful  people  in  a  household  was  com- 
pleted by  an  excellent  French  cook.     Ramee  was  to  put  up  for 


186  PARISH  IN  DIFFICULTY: 

him,  at  Ogdensburgh,  a  suitable  residence,  a  church,  and  other 
buildings,  and  to  carry  out  several  more  or  less  considerable 
structures  in  a  smaller  place,  to  which  Parish  had  already  given 
the  name  of  Parishville.  Ouvrard  mentions  the  origin  of  this 
still  embryo  town  in  his  memoirs,  as  follows :  "  I  had  seen  Mr. 
David  Parish  at  Antwerp,  whither  he  hacflust  established  a  house, 
which  was  then  of  too  little  importance  to  let  slip  the  opportunity 
of  forming  some  connexion  with-  my  business.  Summoned  for 
the  purpose  by  the  Messrs.  Hope,  he  consented  to  take  up  his 
abode  in  the  United  States,  where,  although  but  the  simple  agent 
of  an  operation  scarcely  yet  alive,  his  own  fortune  soon  ascended 
to  the  level  of  the  first  houses  existing,  and  even  permitted  him  to 
give  his  name  to  a  town  in  America." 

The  war  with  England  necessarily  involved  an  immense  outlay 
of  funds,  and  gave  rise  to  great  financial  embarrassment  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States  government,  which  kept  offering  loans 
at  constantly  increasing  rates  of  interest,  but  found  few  who  were 
willing  to  lend  the  money.  Parish,  without  any  preliminary  con- 
sultation with  the  European  capitalists,  least  of  all  with  the  Bar- 
ings, as  will  presently  be  seen,  and  without  any  particular  under- 
standing with  the  capitalists  of  the  United  States  with  whom  he 
had  formed  connexions,  or  the  banks,  assumed  one  of  these  loans 
at  high  rates  of  interest,  purchasing  on  a  low  quotation  in  the 
money  market ;  but  he  soon  found  that  he  was  out  of  his  calcula- 
tion, as  the  loan  found  few  takers,  and  they  only  for  small  sums ; 
it  consequently  fell  below  the  stipulated  rate  of  exchange,  and 
left  most  of  the  obligations  incurred  resting  upon  his  shoulders. 
His  own  active  capital  was  speedily  absorbed,  and  Parish  thought 
there  could  be  no  easier  way  of  extricating  himself  from  this  em- 
bai  rassment,  than  to  send  the  greater  portion  of  the  stock  certifi- 
cates to  the  Messrs.  Barings  in  London,  and  in  return  place  large 
sums  to  his  own  account.  The  result  of  this  bold  measure  is 
easily  foreseen.  The  London  house  sent  back  his  certificates,  and 
refused  his  drafts — England  was  at  open  war  with  the  United 
States !  Parish  seemed  to  have  forgotten,  that  at  a  lord  mayor's 
dinger,  given  in  London,  in  1808,  the  old  Sir  Francis  Baring  had, 
amid  the  frowns  of  the  company,  to  defend  himself  from  the  re- 


PEACE  CONCLUDED— SAVES  HIM.  187 

proach  that  his  house,  by  the  use  of  its  capital  and  the  sale  of 
American  state  paper,  was  furthering  the  views  of  the  hostile 
American  government. 

In  New  Orleans  I  was  too  remote  from  the  scene  of  these  diffi- 
culties, in  which  Parish  had  become  involved,  to  have  a  fair  and 
thorough  knowledge  of  them  ;  but  the  simple  fact  that  he  attempted 
to  have  his  paper  discounted  in  all  the  banks,  with  unimportant 
names  for  indorsers,  was  enough  to  show  that  he  no  longer  re- 
tained that  elevated  place  he  had  asserted  in  the  American  money 
market  only  two  years  before  ;  and  his  friends,  with  deep  regret, 
saw  financial  difficulty  surrounding  the  man  who  had  so  long  been 
accustomed  to  relieving  others  from  it.  Parish  was  naturally  good- 
hearted,  and  it  had  become  a  proverb  that  he  could  not  say  nay 
to  any  applicant.  Let  the  reader  now  imagine  this  man,  who  had 
never  made  others  feel  unpleasantly  the  importance  and  weight 
of  his  position,  placed  in  such  a  situation  as  compelled  hirn  to  de- 
pend upon  the  good  will  of  those  around  him.  The  Olivers',  Craig, 
and  others,  who  had  to  thank  him  for  the  origin  of  their  wealth, 
did  not  feel  inclined  to  risk,  once  more,  the  money  they  had  accu- 
mulated ;  and  the  shyness  with  which  they  met  his  combinations 
at  this  time  may  be  conceived.  Parish's  position  had  become 
extremely  critical,  when  the  peace,  concluded  at  Ghent,  on  De- 
cember 24th,  1814,  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
at  once  restored  American  paper  to  its  full  value,  and  raised  it  to 
quotations  in  the  market  which  were  profitable  instead  of  disas- 
trous.    Parish  was  saved. 

Now,  to  return  to  my  own  situation  when,  within  a  few  months 
after  the  foundation  of  my  establishment,  I  was  suddenly  cut  off 
from  all  resources.  The  absence  of  business  thence  resulting, 
the  difficulty  bordering  almost  upon  impossibility,  of  tracing  out 
under  these  circumstances,  any  business  combinations  at  all  cor- 
responding to  the  enterprising  mercantile  spirit,  and  yet  not 
calculated  to  place  one's  reputation  for  commercial  foresight  in 
jeopardy,  made  life  wearisome  among  a  population  such  as  New 
Orleans  at  that  time  contained.  It  could,  indeed,  be  borne,  but 
it  made  the  joyless  void  of  existence,  when  the  object  of  that 
existence  has  departed,  most  keenly  felt.     It  was  like  a  dead  calm 


188  THE  AUTHOR  BREAKS  HIS  ARM. 

to  the  mariner,  but  with  this  difference,  that  the  latter  continues 
only  for  days  or  weeks,  while  the  termination  of  my  stagnant 
inactivity  could  not  be  calculated,  but  might  extend  for  years. 

The  Mississippi  was  blockaded  and  narrowly  watched  by  two 
English  vessels  of  war.  After  this  sad  beginning  of  the  war,  the 
whole  city  and  district  of  country  was  so  additionally  unfortunate 
as  to  be  devastated  by  a  hurricane  of  the  kind  which  so  fre- 
quently occurs  in  tropical  climates,  at  the  time  of  the  solstice. 
Eighteen  of  the  vessels  lying  in  the  harbor  were  thrown  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  where  they  remained  completely 
wrecked;  many  houses,  and  half-finished  buildings  were  blown 
down,  and  most  of  the  roofs  in  the  city  were  torn  away  to  the 
last  shingle.  Such  were  the  reminiscences  of  the  first  year  of  the 
war! 

Its  second  year,  1813,  brought  me  fresh  proofs  of  the  frail 
tenure  by  which  human  life  and  comfort  are  held.  In  the  month  of 
May,  as  I  was  taking  a  pleasure  ride  on  horseback,  with  a  friend, 
he  remarked  that  some  one  had  told  him  what  a  fine  racer  my 
horse  was,  and  that  he  would  like  to  see  him  running.  I  assented 
to  the  proposed  test,  adding  that  he  would  have  to  rein  up  his 
horse,  since  so  long  as  mine  could  hear  another  galloping  close  by 
him,  it  was  impossible  to  hold  him  back.  This  he  agreed  to  do, 
but  did  not  keep  his  word,  for  the  moment  I  had  put  spurs  to  my 
animal,  he  whipped  his  horse  into  full  speed,  and  shouted  after 
me : — "  Hallo  !  I  think  I  can  beat  you  !"  The  affair  turned  out 
just  as  I  had  told  him  ;  I  could  no  longer  check  my  horse,  and 
away  he  went  like  the  wind,  until  a  sudden  stumble  precipitated 
him  to  the  ground,  and  I  was  thrown  on  my  side  on  the  highway, 
where  I  lay  for  some  time  quite  lifeless,  at  the  distance  of  two 
miles  from  the  city.  My  head  was  severely  wounded,  and  my 
arm  was  broken  at  the  elbow,  in  such  a  way  that  it  has  remained 
crooked  and  bent  ever  since,  so  that  I  cannoc  extend  it  to  its  full 
length. 

Party  spirit  was  embittered  by  the  languishing  state  of  things 
in  the  city,  and  day  by  day  increased  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
cause  the  greatest  division  and  irreconcilable  enmities  where 
social  intercourse  had  just  begun.     People  would  gather  at  the 


THE  PIRATES  OF  BARATARIA.  189 

corners  of  the  streets,  to  hear  or  circulate  all  sorts  of  private  scandal. 
Ready  money  became  scarce.  The  whole  adjacent  coast  was  dis- 
quieted and  kept  in  terror  by  pirates  ;  among  the  latter,  the  most 
conspicuous  were  the  brothers  Laffitte,  from  Bayonne,  Sauvelet, 
Beluche,  Dominique,  Gamba  and  others,  who  were  time  and 
again,  seen  walking  about,  publicly,  in  the  streets  of  New  Orleans. 
They  had  their  friends  and  acquaintances,  their  depots  of  goods, 
&c.,  in  the  city,  and  sold,  almost  openly,  the  wares  they  had 
obtained  by  piracy,  particularly  English  manufactured  goods. 
The  slave  trade,  too,  was  especially  flourishing  under  their 
auspices.  These  pirates  captured  Spanish  and  other  slave  ships 
on  the  high  seas,  and  established  their  main  depot  and  rendezvous 
on  the  little  island  of  Barataria,  lying  near  the  coast  adjacent  to 
New  Orleans.  This  place  was  visited  by  the  sugar  planters, 
chiefly  of  French  origin,  who  bought  up  the  stolen  slaves  at  from 
150  to  200  dollars  per  head,  when  they  could  not  have  procured 
as  good  stock  in  the  city  for  less  than  600  or  700  dollars.  These 
were  then  conveyed  to  the  different  plantations,  through  the 
innumerable  creeks  called  bayous,  that  communicate  by  manifold 
little  branches,  with  each  other.  This  clandestine  traffic  was  one 
of  the  causes  to  which  the  scarcity  of  ready  money  was  to  be 
attributed.  The  planters,  instead  of  taking  bank  notes  with  them, 
invariably  provided  themselves  with  coin  to  pay  for  their  pur- 
chases. This  money,  however,  did  not  leave  the  country,  but  was 
hoarded  away  in  the  private  coffers  of  those  who  performed  the 
part  of  secret  agents  for  the  pirates,  and  was  thus  withdrawn  from 
general  circulation.  The  French  and  Catalonian  population  of  the 
city  had  never  been  able  tq  persuade  themselves  that  bank-notes 
are  just  as  good  as  cash  in  representing  value  when  based  upon  the 
security  of  a  well-managed  banking  capital,  and  just  when  the  pre- 
judice against  them  was  passing  away,  the  jealous  manoeuvring 
of  two  cashiers,  one  T,  L.  Harman,  in  the  Planter's  Bank,  the 
other  Joseph  Saul,  in  the  Bank  of  Orleans,  both  Englishmen  by 
birth,  again  revived  it.  The  latter  cashier  aimed  at  destroying 
the  credit  of  the  Planter's  Bank,  and  attracting  its  customers  to 
his  own,  as  they  were  mostly  planters  who  allowed  their  deposits 
to  lie  longer  than  the  merchants  were  accustomed  to  do.     The 


190  SUSPENSION  OF  THE  N.  O.  BANKS. 

m 
cashier,  who  could  wind  the  whole  Board  of  Directors  belonging 
to  the  Bank,  around  his  little  finger,  had  contracted  its  discount- 
ing operations,  and  thus  brought  about  a  much  smaller  issue  of 
paper  than  the  Planter's  Bank  had  made ;  he  then,  carefully,  col- 
lected the  notes  of  the  rival  bank  as  they  were  coming  in,  and 
after  getting  unfavorable  reports  into  circulation  concerning  the 
Planter's  Bank,  he  suddenly  presented  the  accumulated  mass  of 
notes,  requiring  payment  of  the  same  in  silver,  on  a  day  when  he 
knew  that  his  neighbor's  supply  of  that  metal  was  very  much 
reduced.  The  amount  demanded  by  the  notes  went  far  beyond 
the  quantity  of  silver  in  the  possession  of  the  Planter's  Bank, 
and  the  clerk  of  the  Bank  of  Orleans  who  presented  them, 
instantly  returned  with  word  that  they  would  have  further  con- 
sultation on  the  subject.  This  was  enough.  The  whole  popula- 
tion was  thrown  into  excitement ;  there  was  an  immediate  run 
upon  the  Planter's  Bank  ;  but  there  was  no  distinction  drawn  by 
the  excited  public,  between  it  and  the  Bank  of  Orleans,  which  like 
its  rival  and  anticipated  victim,  was  likewise  brought  to  a  stand 
still,  in  the  payment  of  its  notes.  The  inhabitants  hurried  to  the 
exchange,  and  named  a  committee  of  five  members,  viz  :  Messrs. 
Nott,  H.  Landreaux,  and  P.  F.  Dubourg,  merchants,  Mr. 
Mazureau  a  lawyer,  and  myself,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  into 
the  actual  condition  of  the  banks,  and  reporting  thereupon.  My 
colleague,  Nott,  was  the  only  one  of  these  who  possessed  any 
insight  into  the  matter,  while  the  other  two  merchants  had  but 
little  knowledge  of  the  subject,  and  the  lawyer,  Mazureau,  was 
totally  destitute  of  an  idea  respecting  the  system  of  money- 
circulation,  yet  ipso  motu,  held  himself  solely  authorized  to  draw 
up  the  report  which  had  been  intrusted  to  Mr.  Nott  and  myself, 
as  well  as  to  him.  The  very  first  charge  of  Mr.  Mazureau,  full 
of  hollow  words  and  declamation,  at  once  convinced  me  that  he 
had  formed  no  correct  conception  of  the  real  state  of  things  ;  and 
therefore,  did  not  know  what  he  was  talking  about.  I  asked  leave 
to  present  another  statement ;  and  when  I  had  communicated  it  to 
the  other  members,  when  the  latter  came  to  decide  between  mine 
and  the  one  handed  in  by  the  attorney,  they  accepted  mine  with 
four  votes,  while  Mr.  Mazure&u's  had  only  his  own  voice  in  its 


THE  CONSEQUENCES.  191 

favor.  The  report  drawn  up  by  me,  after  setting  forth  the  actual 
position  of  the  Banks,  as  we  found  them,  and  expressing  assur- 
ances in  relation  to  their  solvency,  that  were  calculated  to  quiet 
all  apprehension  in  every  quarter,  went  on  to  regret  that  such  an 
unnecessary  excitement  should  have  been  produced  by  the  petty 
jealousies  ofrtwo  cashiers,  whose  manoeuvres  had  created  a  general 
business  distrust,  which  should  not,  and  could  not  have  arisen  had 
they  really  taken  the  interests  of  the  city  to  heart.  The  cashier 
of  the  Planter's  Bank,  who  was  my  personal  friend,  viewed  this  in 
the  proper  light ;  but  the  cashier  of  the  Orleans  Bank,  a  very 
irritable  and  petulant  man,  was  thrown  into  a  perfect  fury,  and 
vented  his  rage,  at  every  public  resort,  in  the  most  contemptuous 
and  injurious  language.  He  soon  learned  from  our  colleague 
Mazureau,  that  I  had  penned  the  obnoxious  document,  with  the 
addition,  however,  that  it  was  an  affair  arranged  between  Mr. 
Nott  and  Mr.  Nolte ;  and  that  the  other  two  members  of  the 
committee  had  merely  surrendered  their  judgment,  at  discretion. 
It  was  now  reported,  throughout  the  city,  that  Mr.  Saul  had 
threatened  to  punish  us  both,  and  not  to  rest  until  he  had  taken 
ample  satisfaction  out  of  us.  His  first  attack  was  directed  against 
my  friend  Mr.  Nott,  who  happened  to  be  one  of  the  directors  of  the 
Bank  of  Orleans,  of  which  Saul  was  the  cashier.  He  managed  at 
once,  but  very  quietly,  to  collect  the  Bank  powers-of-attorney  of 
most  of  the  stockholders,  so  as  to  be  enabled  to  cast  votes  in  their 
name,  at  the  approaching  yearly  election  of  new  bank  directors ; 
he  then  had  several  shares  bought  up  by  his  creatures,  and  in  this 
way  managed  to  get  the  majority  of  votes  into  his  hands,  deter- 
mined to  use  them  for  the  purpose  of  defeating  the  re-election  of 
the  directors  who  were  disagreeable  to  him  :  these  were  six  in 
number,  with  Nott  at  their  head.  Young  and  inexperienced  mer- 
chants of  no  weight  or  importance  were  elected  in  their  stead. 
Inflated  by  this  success,  he  daily  went  about  boasting,  on  both 
Bourses — there  were  then  two  in  New  Orleans,  the  American  and 
French — and  threatening  that,  sooner  or  later,  he  would  richly 
chastise  us  both,  for  what  we  had  done.  I  was  unwilling  to  take 
any  notice  of  this  contemptible  proceeding,  but  Nott  desired  to 
put  Saul's  courage  to  the  test,  and  requested  me  to  hand  that  per. 


192  PERSONAL  ATTACK  FROM  SAUL— 

son  a  note,  in  his  name,  requesting  him  either  to  declare  the  story 
respecting  the  threatened  chastisement  untrue,  or  to  hold  himself 
in  readiness  to  give  him  personal  satisfaction.  We  both  looked 
upon  this  as  offering  him  a  chance  of  withdrawing  from  his  boasts, 
by  a  couple  of  friendly  words  addressed  to  me.  So  I  took  Nott's 
letter  to  the  dwelling  of  Mr.  Saul,  but  not  finding  him  at  home, 
looked  for  him  in  the  street,  and  met  him  coming  back  from  the 
cricket  ground.  I  proceeded  to  hand  him  the  little  note  with  all 
due  politeness.  He  read  it  through  apparently  without  any  agi- 
tation, and  replied  in  a  defiant,  arrogant  tone  that  he  would  send 
a  reply.  "  Through  whom,  Mr.  Saul  1  I  ask,  in  order  that  I  may 
have  an  interview  with  your  friend."  "  That  is  none  of  your  busi- 
ness !"  he  answered  with  persistent  insolence.  "  Well,  then,"  I 
rejoined,  "  give  me  a  line  to  show  that  my  friend's  letter  has 
reached  your  hands,  and  my  mission  is  then  completed !"  Saul's 
response  to  this  demand  was  a  furious  blow  of  his  fist  in  my  right 
eye — he  had  always  boasted  of  his  skill  and  practice  as  a  boxer — 
and  I,  whom  the  fracture  of  my  arm,  a  couple  of  months  before, 
had  rendered  utterly  unable  to  make  any  resistance,  broke  away 
from  him  and  hurried  across  the  street ;  however,  he  followed 
me,  and  seizing  me  by  the'  collar,  jerked  me  backwards  to  the 
ground.  While  I  was  in  this  position  he  beat  my  head  against 
the  edge  of  the  curb-stone  with  such  violence  that  I  lay  there  sense- 
less and  bleeding.  A  couple  of  acquaintances,  who  found  me  in 
this  condition,  brought  me,  not  without  some  trouble,  to  my  home, 
and  I  was  there  confined  to  bed  by  my  wounds  and  bruises 
during  a  whole  fortnight. 

Nott  called  to  see  me  at  once,  and  remarked  that  he  knew  what 
was  reserved  for  him  to  do,  and  that  he  hoped,  in  the  course  of 
the  next  morning,  to  bring  me  some  gratifying  news  of  my  assas- 
sin, as  he  called  him.  About  10  o'clock  on  the  ensuing  day  he 
came  into  my  room,  with  the  words  :  "  Your  assassin,  Mr.  Nolte, 
is  weltering  in  his  blood  !"  "  What !"  I  exclaimed,  "  dead  V 
"  No !"  he  answered,  "  not  dead,  but  shot  through  the  body  !" 
And  here  he  went  on  to  tell  me,  that  the  moment  he  heard  of  the 
treatment  I  had  received,  he  sent  Saul  a  challenge  to  meet  him 
the  next  morning,  with  pistols,  and  at  the  same  time  declaring 


I  PROCLAIM  HIM  A  COWARD.  193 

that  the  whole  business  must  be  done  within  twelve  hours.  Saul 
had  agreed  to  meet  him  at  8  o'clock,  and  I  now  knew  the  result. 
It  appeared,  upon  examination,  that  Saul's  wound  would  have 
been  mortal  had  he  not,  contrary  to  all  the  rules  of  the  duello, 
wrapped  a  silk  bandage  around  his  body  ;  Nott's  bullet  had  struck 
him,  but  its  force  was  broken  by  the  band  of  silk,  which  was  ten 
yards  in  length,  and  wrapped  several  times  about  Saul's  person, 
and  glanced  aside,  lodging  beneath  one  of  his  right  ribs.  A  fort- 
night afterwards  I  was  well,  and  did  not  delay  24  hours  in  demand- 
ing personal  satisfaction  from  Mr.  Saul,  for  the  mal-treatment  he 
had  inflicted  on  me.  His  reply  was  that  "  he  had  already  given 
Mr.  Nott  personal  satisfaction  for  what  had  occurred  between  him 
and  me,  and  that  he  was  not  bound  to  render  account  to  any  one 
else."  The  reader  will  at  once  perceive  that  this  was  a  reply  not 
calculated  to  meet  my  wishes.  I  again  wrote  to  Saul,  that  I 
would  not  accept  such  a  reply  ;  that  Mr.  Nott  had  looked  upon 
the  treatment  I  had  received  as  a  personal  insult  to  himself,  bu 
that  I  was  not  accustomed  to  settle  my  accounts  at  the  cost  ot 
other  people,  and  that  what  I  expected  from  him  was  instant  sat 
isfaction.  I  waited  three  days  for  a  reply,  but  in  vain.  I  then 
resolved  to  have  my  two  letters  and  his  reply  printed,  with  the 
words  beneath  them :  "  I  do,  therefore,  hereby  declare  Joseph 
Saul  to  be  a  worthless  rascal  and  a  coward!"  This  card, 
signed  by  me,  was  then  posted  on  all  the  public  places  and  street 
corners,  and  by  seven  o'clock  the  following  morning  they  were 
everywhere  visible.  The  excitement  in  the  city  was  very  great ; 
public  opinion — that  is  to  say,  all  those  who  were  not  afraid  of 
having  the  discounting  of  their  notes  refused,  for  it  was  generallv 
believed  that  their  acceptance  or  rejection  depended  upon  the  dis- 
position of  the  cashier — spoke  loudly  in  my  favor.  I,  however, 
felt  unhappy  to  the  last  degree,  so  long  as  I  had  not  got  satisfac- 
tion from  the  aggressor,  and  for  some  time  knew  scarcely  what  to 
do,  as  my  crippled  arm  deprived  me  of  the  possibility  of  encoun- 
tering him  in  any  other  way  than  with  the  pistol ;  and,  conse- 
quently, I  could  not  venture  to  lay  the  cowhide  over  his  shoul- 
ders. At  length  I  bethought  me  of  a  plan  which  I  considered 
infallible,  for  the  attainment  of  my  object.     It  was  as  follows  s — 

9 


194  A  FORGED  LETTER. 

Among  the  generals  on  the  American  side  who  had  been  sent  to  the 
Canadian  frontiers,  not  merely  for  the  purpose  of  defending  them, 
but  also  to  carry  on  offensive  operations  against  the  English  army 
then  extended  along  the  lines,  was  one  named  William  Hull, 
who,  upon  the  first  approach  of  the  English  corps,  although  it  was 
inferior  to  his  own,  retreated,  and  at  last  surrendered,  without 
striking  a  blow.  He  was  soon  afterwards  exchanged,  and  imme- 
diately upon  his  return  brought  before  a  court-martial,  which  sen- 
tenced him  to  be  degraded  from  the  service,  and,  by  public  procla- 
mation, declared  him  to  be  a  poltroon  and  coward.  I  had  a  letter 
published  in  the  "  Ami  des  Lois,"  purporting  to  be  from  the  con- 
demned general  to  one  of  his  friends  in  New  Orleans,  in  which  he 
bitterly  complained  of  his  hard  lot,  but  more  particularly  of  the 
wretched  position  in  which  he  was  placed  by  his  sentence  ;  since, 
from  the  moment  when  he  was  proclaimed  a  coward,  no  one 
would  have  anything  to  do  with  him,  much  less  extend  a  hand  to 
grasp  his.  He  could,  therefore,  continued  the  letter,  no  longer 
remain  in  Boston,  and  was  longing  to  find  some  other  place  where 
people  did  not  think  so  much  of  such  affairs  ;  and,  if  it  were  true, 
as  he  had  learned,  that  Joseph  Saul,  cashier  of  the  Orleans  Bank, 
was  about  to  resign  his  place  and  retire,  he  would  be  glad  to  fill 
the  vacancy,  as  he  had  been  told  that,  in  spite  of  the  disgraceful 
reputation  of  being  a  cowardly  knave,  a  man  could  carry  on  busi- 
ness with  the  greatest  boldness  ;  and  that  there  were  even  some 
folks  there  who,  on  discounting  day,  would  hold  out  a  friendly 
hand ;  and  that,  as  he  was  not  a  whit  better  or  worse  than  this 
Saul,  he  deserved  to  be  placed  upon  as  good  a  level.  In  common 
with  every  honorable  man  in  New  Orleans,  I  had  a  right  to  expect 
that  this  letter,  the  authorship  of  which  the  newspaper  editor  was 
empowered  to  reveal,  would  bring  the  individual  on  whom  it 
bore  into  the  field,  but  I  counted  without  my  host. 

Mr.  Saul,  and  the  clique  that  counselled  him  did  not  look  upon 
matters  in  that  light.  They  were,  indeed,  anxious  to  wipe  out  the 
dishonor  put  upon  him,  but  without  danger  to  him,  and  at  all 
events,  not  at  their  own  expense.  They  imagined  that  I  would 
not  be  so  rash  as  to  fight,  notwithstanding  my  crippled  arm,  and 
that   it  was  only  recessary  to  provide  some  vent  for  my  ill 


ARRANGEMENTS  FOR  A  DUEL.  195 

humor.  So  they  hit  upon  the  plan  of  hunting  up  some  one 
whom  they  could,  without  great  difficulty,  persuade  to  send  me  a 
challenge,  not  for  any  reasonable  cause,  so  that  I,  as  they  pre- 
sumed would  happen,  should  decline  it,  and  yield  them  all  the 
pleasure  of  posting  me  at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  as  I  had  done 
to  their  friend  Saul.  With  this  intention,  they  looked  about 
them  for  some  time  without  success ;  but  after  the  lapse  of  a  fort- 
night, chance  favored  their  sinister  project.  A  nephew  of  General 
Hull,  named  Allen,  who  was  then  at  Mobile,  in  the  capacity  of 
under  Paymaster  to  a  regiment  of  United  States  troops,  quar- 
tered there,  came  on  to  New  Orleans  to  attend  to  some  regimental 
business.  They  found  him  out,  and  the  endeavor  to  work  up 
sufficiently,  terminated  as  they  wished.  At  the  same  time  I  re- 
ceived warning  that  family  friends  of  General  Hull  were  preparing 
to  wreak  vengeance  on  me.  The  editor  of  the  "  Ami  des  Lois," 
let  me  know  that  there  had'been  some  one  inquiring  of  him  who 
it  was  that  had  written  the  offensive  letter,  and  that  the  person 
wishing  to  know  was  called  Allen.  On  the  next  day,  while  at 
table,  I  received  a  visit  from  Captain  Perry,  who  handed  me  an 
open  letter,  signed  by  Mr.  Allen ;  and  informed  me  that  the 
latter  on  his  own  behalf,  and  in  the  name  of  his  family,  demanded 
personal  satisfaction  of  me  for  having  disrespectfully  used  the 
name  of  their  unfortunate  relative,  General  Hull.  I  replied,  that 
I  was  ready  to  grant  it,  and  that  if  he  would  be  at  the  French 
Exchange  by  8  o'clock,  I  would  send  him  my  friend  Nott,  to 
make  the  necessary  preparations  for  the  meeting.  Nott  at  once 
expressed  his  willingness  to  act  as  my  second  in  the  affair,  and 
met  Captain  Perry  that  evening  at  the  Exchange.  They  arranged 
that  the  duel  should  take  place  at  7  o'clock  the  next  morning,  on 
the  road  to  the  Bayou*  St.  John;  that  pistols  should  be  the 
weapons  used,  the  distance  ten  paces,  and  that  we  should  both 
fire  at  the  same  moment,  upon  the  given  word.  Nott  returned  to 
the  Exchange  while  I  remained  at  home  to  write  some  letters,  and 
make  some  needful  preparations.  An  hour  later,  Nott  came 
back  to  me  and  said  : — "  They  appear  to  rue  the  step  they  have 

*  Bayou  is  the  local  name  for  a  small  river  or  creek. 


196  DUEL  STILL  IN  PROSPECT. 

taken."  "How  is  that?"  I  asked.  "Well,"  replied  Nott,  "I 
have  just  net  Captain  Perry,  at  the  Exchange,  and  he  came 
right  up  to  me,  with  a  very  friendly  air,  expressing  his  regret 
that  things  had  gone  so  far.  He  confessed  that  he  had  been  led 
into  error  by  people  representing  that  you  were  an  insolent 
European,  who  imagined  that  he  could  say  or  do  anything  to 
Americans  ;  he  then  went  on  to  say  that  the  only  thing  required 
was  a  slight  correction  of  language,  rather  than  anything  serious, 
and  that  you  would  assuredly  decline  the  challenge."  (I  should 
then  have  had  the  pleasure  of  beholding  my  name  figuring  on  all 
the  street  corners  !)  "  Instead  of  finding  a  disagreeable  person, 
he  continued,  he  was  received  by  you  in  the  politest  manner 
possible ;  and,  after  promptly  accepting  the  challenge,  you  had 
offered  a  glass  of  d — d  good  Madeira ;  it  would  be  a  pity  to  see 
two  clever  men,  who  had  no  real  cause  of  animosity  against  each 
other,  fighting  for  a  mere  piece  of  s^ort,  which  had  been  mis- 
understood !  Is  there  no  way,  he  said,  in  conclusion,  of  settling  the 
matter  peaceably  1  I  replied,"  continued  Nott, "  that  I  could  see 
no  possibility  of  such  an  arrangement,  now  that  the  challenge  had 
been  sent  in  and  accepted.  He  then  rejoined,  that  if  the  chal- 
lenge were  returned  with  a  simple  declaration  that  there  had  beeii 
no  intention  of  offending  the  Hull  family,  he  would  take  it  upon 
himself  to  have  the  thing  set  right.  And  now,  it  depends  upon 
you  ;  will  you  return  the  challenge  V 

"  Not  at  all,"  I  answered,  adding  that  I  would  have  accepted 
this  offer  without  hesitation,  if  they  had  acted  in  some  other 
fashion;  but  that  now,  since  the  challenge  had  been  given  and 
taken  up,  no  retraction  was  to  be  thought  of;  I,  at  the  same  time, 
remarked  to  Nott,  that  I  had  already  perceived  how  it  was  in 
New  Orleans,  where  so  many  adventurers  and  worthless  men 
from  distant  regions,  flocked  in,  and  endeavored,  although  rogues, 
to  pass  for  honest  men ;  no  other  way  wras  open  for  them  than  to 
attack  the  personal  courage  of  a  man,  so  that  because  they  wrere 
always  ready  to  fight,  they  might  put  forward  higher  claims  to 
consideration  than  the  good  and  prudent  citizen  who  was  unwil- 
ling  to  jeopard  his  life,  and  the  fortunes  of  his  family  at  any 
and  every  moment  for  nothing      For  that  reason,  said  I  to  Nott, 


IT  COMES  OFF.  197 

I  have  resolved  to  let  slip  no  opportunity  of  making  such  a 
sacrifice,  in  duty  to  myself  and  my  own  peace  of  mind,  —  the  first 
course  I  had  taken  was  the  best,  and  I  would  not  recede  from  it." 
Nott  admitted  that  I  was  perfectly  right ;  he  confessed  that  in 
view  of  the  usages  and  customs  prevailing  where  a  man  is  living, 
no  other  means  of  securing  his  tranquillity  is  open  to  him  than 
to  bow  sometimes  before  necessity,  even  should  he  do  it,  with  a 
protest  in  his  heart,  and  without  respect  for  the  system  he  was 
thus  compelled  to  obey. 

The  next  morning,  I  met  my  antagonist,  whom  I  had  never 
before  seen,  at  the  appointed  rendezvous.  He  was  accompanied 
by  Captain  Perry  and  Dr.  Hermann,  a  German,  employed  as  a 
surgeon  in  the  American  army.  My  medical  attendant  was  a 
Frenchman  named  Gros,  now  a  resident  at  Tarbes,  among  the 
Pyrenees.  At  the  first  fire,  the  barrel  of  my  adversary's  pistol 
was  struck  by  my  ball,  and  fell  broken  to  the  ground.  Before 
the  second,  I  was  asked  by  Captain  Perry  if  I  had  anything  to 
say :  I,  of  course,  replied  in  the  negative,  adding  that  I  should 
remain  in  my  present  attitude  until  parties  declared  themselves 
satisfied.  The  bullets  crossed  without  effect.  At  the  third  fire, 
when  my  ball  grazed  my  adversary's  right  sh^hlder,  and  glanced 
past  the  back  of  his  skull,  he  exclaimed  : — "  By  God  !  that  seems 
enough!"  Our  seconds  then  had  a  brief  consultation  together, 
and  at  length  announced  to  me  that  Mr.  Allen  would  approach 
me  unarmed,  and  with  outstretched  hand,  and  that  if  I  would  then 
step  forward  to  meet  him  in  the  same  way,  and  declare  that  in  the 
letter  I  had  got  the  Ami  des  Lois  to  publish,  I  had  not  meant  to 
insult  the  family  of  General  Hull,  the  affair  would  be  at  an  end. 
I  consented  to  this,  and  the  next  day  my  disclaimer  to  this  effect, 
appeared  in  the  Ami  des  Lois  with  the  addition,  that  the  real 
object  of  that  letter  had  been  no  other  than  to  lash  Mr.  Joseph  Saul 
with  the  scourge  of  ridicule,  for  his  pitiful  cowardice. 

About  three  days  after  the  duel,  I  met  Mr.  Allen.  He 
approached  me,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  and  taking  my  hand  in  a 
friendly  way,  confessed  that  he  had  acted  in  a  hostile  spirit 
towards  me,  but  that  he  had  been  set  on  to  do  it,  and  become  the 
blind  instrument  of  persons  whose  secret  purpose  he  bad  not  at 


198  SOCIETY  IN  NEW  ORLEANS. 

first  divined.  I  begged  him  to  tell  me  the  names  of  these 
honorable  people,  and  learned  just  as  I  had  all  along  taken  for 
granted,  that  they  were  no  other  than  Mr.  Saul,  and  his  clique. 

I  have  narrated  the  story  of  these  personal  difficulties,  which 
can  have  no  very  great  interest  for  my  readers,  with  a  certain 
degree  of  minuteness,  so  as  to  present  a  fair  view  of  the  social 
condition  of  things  in  New  Orleans,  at  that  period.  It  was  not 
only  a  nest  of  pirates,  but  a  place  of  resort  for  every  description 
of  schemers  and  scamps,  against  whom  nearly  every  other  com- 
munity was  closed.  Nott,  an  American  by  birth,  who  had  lived 
for  some  time  in  France,  and  could  boast  a  degree  of  culture,  and 
I,  held  ourselves  aloof  as  much  as  possible  from  such  a  popula- 
tion, and  visited  only  some  of  the  older  and  most  respectable 
families,  never  going  near  any  of  the  drinking  establishments, 
gambling  saloons,  &a,  &c.  For  this  very  reason,  we  were  hated 
and  persecuted  by  the  mass  of  the  population,  and  looked  upon 
with  suspicion.  "  Inimical  to  the  best  interests  of  the  country," 
was  the  usual  phrase  applied  to  us,  although  the  existence  of  such 
an  idea  long  remained  unknown  to  us. 

Just  about  this  time  there  was  a  rumor  afloat  of  a  large  expe- 
dition fitting  ou^in  England,  against  the  southern  coasts  of 
the  United  States,  especially  the  seaboard  of  Louisiana.  A 
freebooter  gang,  under  an  English  major  named  Nicholas,  had 
placed  itself  in  communication  with  the  pirates  of  Barataria,  and 
English  cruisers  were  from  time  to  time  seen  in  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico, and  off  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi.  Navigation  on  the 
two  lakes,  Borgne  and  Pontchartrain,  back  of  New  Orleans,  had 
never  been  disturbed,  and  to  the  entrance  of  Mobile  Bay  or  Mobile 
Point,  as  it  is  called,  to  the  harbor  of  Pensacola,  which  remained 
opened  to  the  English  and  their  flag,  was  about  six  hours  sail.  At 
Pensacola,  Louisiana  cotton  could  not  be  procured  by  the  English 
for  less  than  from  22  to  24  cents  per  pound,  while  in  New  Orleans 
it  cost  only  half  that  rate.  Intercourse  was  then  carried  on  be- 
tween the  country  bordering  the  lakes,  and  even  between  New 
Orleans  and  Pensacola,  by  means  of  small  craft,  counting  from 
ten  to  fifteen  tons,  which  conveyed  flour,  wine,  spirituous  liquors, 
etc.,  etc.,  to   and      j.     The  whole   flotilla  amounted  to   about 


TRADING  OPERATIONS.  199 

twenty-five  sail.  One  morning  I  chartered  the  larger  .£  these, 
loaded  them  with  cotton,  to  the  extent  of  about  250  bales  in  all, 
and  dispatched  them  to  Mobile  Bay,  there  to  await  my  arrival. 
A  day  or  two  afterwards  I  reached  the  place,  in  a  small  empty 
schooner,  and  lay  close  to  Fort  Mobile,  before  which  a  small 
English  squadron  was  cruising,  and  at  length  began  to  make  pre- 
parations for  bombarding  the  fort.  The  attack  came  at  last,  and 
continued,  right  before  my  eyes,  from  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
until  seven  in  the  evening.  The  little  fort  withstood  the  cannon- 
ade of  five  war  vessels  most  bravely,  and  responded  to  it  with 
such  effect  as  evidently  to  occasion  them  very  great  damage.  I 
now  brought  the  whole  of  my  little  flotilla  from  the  middle  of  the 
bay  close  to  the  fort,  and  waited  in  my  little  clipper  for  the  re- 
treat of  the  British  squadron.  When  this  occurred,  at  sundown, 
I  sailed  along  close  at  its  heels,  yet  at  a  certain  distance,  and  saw 
that  it  bore  direct  for  Pensacola,  where,  thought  I,  they  would  be 
more  likely  to  occupy  themselves  with  repairing  their  damage 
than  in  capturing  small  craft  like  mine.  So  I  returned  to  the  bay, 
hauled  out  my  flotilla,  and,  favored  during  the  night  by  a  cloudless 
moon  and  fair  wind,  brought  it  by  sunrise  safe  into  the  harbor  of 
Pensacola.  Here  I  sold  my  cotton,  on  the  spot,  at  twenty-two  cents 
per  pound,  and  in  return  purchased  three  packs  woollen  blankets 
at  five  and  a  half  to  six  dollars.  With  these  I  went  through  Mo- 
bile Bay  and  the  small  lakes  back  to  New  Orleans,  where  the  blan- 
kets were  worth  from  ten  to  eleven  dollars.  The  proper  period 
for  the  sale  of  that  article  is  in  December,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
sugar  crop.  Everybody  thought  this  little  venture  of  mine  a 
pretty  thing,  and  greeted  me  on  'Change  with,  "Ah,  you  have 
been  to  visit  your  friends  the  English  ?" 

Saul  and  his  set,  who  never  rested  in  their  hostility  to  me,  had 
fished  up  another  dupe,  in  the  person  of  a  certain  purser  Shields, 
of  the  navy,  whose  head  they  had  filled  with  stories  of  the  in- 
trigues and  treasonable  plots,  in  which  they  represented  Nott  and 
myself  to  be  engaged.  This  half-crazy  fellow  had  repeatedly  gone 
so  far,  in  conversation  with  Dr.  Morris — a  surgeon  in  the  navy, 
who  freqi  ently  visited  us — as  to  say  that  he  had  testimony  in  his 
possession  which  would  convince  him  (Dr.  Morris)  that  we  were 


200  MOHB  DIFFICULTY  WITH  SAUL, 

regular  traitors,  hostilely  disposed  towards  the  American  govern- 
ment, and  unfair  in  our  dealings.  Peremptorily  called  upon  to 
come  forward  with  this  testimony,  he  retracted,  so  for  as  Nott 
was  concerned  ;  "  Since,"  said  he,  "  Nott  was  a  native,  and  not, 
like  me,  an  adopted  American,  and  consequently  must  love  his  own 
country  more  than  any  other ;  but  what  he  had  asserted  respect- 
ing me  he  would  maintain.  The  real  motive  that  impelled  him 
to  draw  this  distinction  between  Nott  and  myself  lay  in  the  fact 
that  Nott  was  one  of  the  best  marksmen  in  the  city,  while,  in  my 
case,  owing  to  my  crippled  arm,  there  was  not  so  much  risk  to  be 
incurred.  A  polite  letter  which  I  wrote  to  him,  requesting  him 
to  name  a  place  and  hour,  where  he  would  unfold  to  a  friend, 
whom  I  would  dispatch  to  him  for  that  purpose,  the  proofs  of  my 
"  hostile  intentions"  and  my  "  unfairness,"  remained  during  seve- 
ral days  unanswered — he  was  compelled  to  visit  Mobile  on  busi- 
ness, and  would  have  to  postpone  the  desired  information  until 
his  return.  Having,  at  length,  got  back  from  Mobile,  a  fortnight 
elapsed  before  he  took  any  step,  and  he  then  employed  the  pen  of 
an  attorney  to  write  me  a  letter,  full  of  the  most  pitiful  subter- 
fuge, and  declaring  that  he  had  not  made  himself  responsible  for 
the  production  of  those  proofs  before  any  one  but  Dr.  Morris.  A 
second  letter  from  me,  of  a  less  mild  but  rather  very  positive 
character,  also  remained  for  some  time  unanswered.  At  this 
moment  our  civil  and  military  authorities  received  information, 
from  the  government  at  Washington,  that  an  English  fleet,  with  a 
considerable  body  of  troops  on  board,  and  bound  for  Louisiana, 
had  not  only  sailed  from  England,  but  had  even  left  Jamaica,  and 
that  we  had  to  expect  its  speedy  appearance  in  our  waters,  and 
must  be  prepared  for  it.  Now  came  some  lines  from  Mr.  Shields, 
informing  me  that  at  this  conjuncture  he  must  devote  all  his  at- 
tention to  the  country's  service,  and  therefore  let  our  differences 
rest  until  the  critical  moment  had  passed.  The  whole  affair  was,  in 
Itself  of  so  contemptible  a  description,  the  individual  with  whom 
1  had  to  deal  such  a  silly  jackanapes,  and  my  disgust  for  the  busi- 
ness so  profound,  that  I  determined  to  throw  no  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  his  doing  what  he  mentioned  in  his  letter,  but  to  wait  with 
*  hope  that  he  would,  in  the  meanwhile,  come  to  the  use  of  his 


AND  PURSER  SHIELDS.  201 

senses,  and  make  some  reparation.  The  presence  of  any  narrative 
touching  this  contemptible  affair,  in  the  place  where  the  reader 
finds  it,  is  due  to  nothing  but  the  influence  it  exercised  upon  my 
second  duel.  Moreover,  it  completes  the  picture  of  the  then  ex- 
isting social  relations  at  New  Orleans — a  state  of  things  which 
seems  scarcely  credible  at  the  present  day. 


CHAPITER  XII. 
JACKSON'S  DEFENCE  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  ORLEANS. 

His  arrival  there  on  the  1st  of  December,  1814 — Simultaneous  arrival  of  the 
English  fleet  in  the  waters  of  Florida — Capture  of  our  gunboats  by  the 
English,  on  the  14th  of  December — March  of  our  militia  battalions  to  the 
Bayou  St.  John,  on  Lac  Borgne — On  the  23d  of  December,  the  first  intelli- 
gence is  received  that  the  British  had  landed  on  the  plantation  of  General 
Villere" — We  are  ordered  to  the  spot  with  all  the  troops  under  Jackson's 
command — The  night  engagement  of  December  23d — The  burning  of  our  cut- 
ter, the  Carolina,  by  an  English  battery,  on  Christmas  day — The  heavy 
cannonade  on  New- Year's  day,  1815 — The  complete  discomfiture  of  the  Bri- 
tish force,  under  General  Pakenham,  on  the  occasion  of  its  attack  on  our 
first  line,  January  8th,  1815 — Immensely  disproportionate  loss  of  the  Eng- 
lish— Completion  of  the  British  retreat,  on  January  16th. 

The  crisis  was  indeed  a  serious  one.  The  President  of  the 
United  States  had  commissioned  General  Jackson,  who  com- 
„  manded  the  militia  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  to  defend  the  south- 
ern coasts  against  the  anticipated  invasion  of  the  British.  This 
personage  had  never  enjoyed  the  least  opportunity  of  obtaining 
any  regular  military  instruction.  He  had  passed  a  great  portion 
of  his  earlier  years  in  the  political  contests  and  broils  of  the 
regions  in  which  he  lived  ;  and  had  even  been  accustomed  to  carry 
and  use  his  pistols  in  the  very  courts  where  he  had  sat  as  judge  ; 
while  of  the  art  of  war  he  knew  nothing  but  its  fortitude  and  per- 
severance, although  well  acquainted  with  the  barbarity  of  combats 
with  the  Indian  tribes,  and  the  cold-blooded  massacre  ard  extirpa- 
tion meted  out  to  the  savage  race. 

It  was  on  the  1st  of  December,  1814,  that  Jackson  made  his 
appearance  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  Orleans  with  somewhat 
less  than  1500  men.     This  feeble  force  embarked  on  flats  and 


GENERAL  JACKSON.  203 

keel-boats  at  Nashville,  in  the  State  of  Tennessee,  had  floated  out 
of  the  Cumberland  river,  and  thence  descended  the  Mississippi  to 
its  destination.  It  was  made  up  partly  of  volunteers  and  partly  of 
drafted  militia,  drawn  by  lot  from  among  the  male  inhabitants  of 
Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  Among  the  volunteers  was  a  body  of 
about  five  hundied  men,  who  had  taken  part  with  Jackson  in  the 
Indian  wars.  They  were  commanded  by  General  Coffee,  and 
formed  what  was  called  Coffee's  Brigade.  They  were  the  best 
and  most  practised  men  of  the  1500,  and  were  subdivided  into 
companies  of  riflemen,  which  were  under  the  command  of  cap- 
tains, lieutenants,  and  sergeants,  elected  by  themselves ;  a  system 
that  applied  to  the  whole  mass.  These  men  carried  nothing  but 
their  pieces,  their  cartouch-boxes  and  powder-horns — their  bullets 
were  usually  in  their  pantaloons  pockets — they  had  no  idea  what- 
ever of  military  organization  and  discipline :  they  paid  attention 
only  to  the  more  important  part  of  their  calling,  which,  according 
to  their  notions,  was  quietly  to  pick  out  their  man,  fix  him  in 
their  aim,  and  "  bring  him  down." 

General  Jackson  had  a  Captain  Haines  and  a  Major  Reed,  of 
the  militia,  for  military  adjutants,  and  a  Colonel  Butler,  of  an 
American  regiment  of  the  line  for  quarter-master.  Not  one  of 
these  gentlemen,  Jackson  himself  included,  understood  one  word 
of  French,  which  was  the  language  then  generally  spoken  in  Lou- 
isiana, much  less  were  they  in  the  slightest  degree  acquainted 
with  the  way  of  thinking,  ideas,  manners,  and  customs  of  the 
population,  which  was  chiefly  of  French  origin.  Upon  this  occa- 
sion, the  lawyer,  Edward  Livingston,  whom  J  have  already  men- 
tioned, and  who  was  then  residing  at  New  Orleans,  renewed  his 
acquaintanceship  with  Jackson ;  who  at  once  saw  of  what  invaluable 
service  this  skilful  and  experienced  man,  who  had  for  more  than 
ten  years  lived  in  close  contact  with  the  mixed  population  of  Lou- 
isiana, might  then  be,  and  afterwards  become,  to  him.  Again,  the 
General  knew  much  better  how  to  handle  the  sword  than  the  pen, 
and  although  he  had  been  both  a  lawyer  and  a  judge,  wrote  his 
native  tongue  in  a  very  imperfect  and  unorthographic  style:  how, 
then,  could  he  have  hit  upon  a  better  hand  to  prepare  his  dispatches 
for  the  government,  than  the  author  of  the  Criminal  Code  in  Lou- 


204  JACKSON'S  Aim. 

isiana,  his  friend,  the  renowned  writer  and  orator,  Edward  Living- 
ston 1  This  was  sufficient  reason  for  a  joyful  acceptance  of  his 
offer  to  act  as  Jackson's  volunteer  aid  and  private  secretary ! 
Livingston  had  himself  dubbed  colonel,  and,  in  addition  to  his  ser- 
vices, those  of  his  brother-in-law  Davezac,  elsewhere  mentioned, 
and  of  two  other  lawyers,  A.  L.  Duncan  and  John  R.  Grymes, 
by  name,  along  with  Duplessis,  the  district  marshal,  or  five  per- 
sons in  all,  were  accepted  in  the  capacity  of  volunteer  adjutants  ; 
the  two  lawyers,  with  the  title  of  colonel,  and  the  district  marshal 
and  Livingston's  brother-in-law,  as  majors.  Among  this  quintuple 
staff  of  adjutants,  Livingston  himself  was  the  most  distinguished 
and  really  useful  man,  while  Grymes  was  the  intrepid  one  of  their 
number  ;  the  other  three  were  of  very  little,  if  any  service,  as  the 
sequel  will  show,  and  were  entirely  out  of  their  element,  when  it 
came  to  confronting  the  hostile  fire.  Livingston  had  until  then 
lain  under  the  suspicion  of  poltroonery,  and  if  the  celebrated 
French  academician  and  historian  Mignet,  speaks,  in  his  obituary 
of  Edward  Livingston,  published  in  the  Journal  des  Debats,  of  the 
daring  courage  which  distinguished  that  gentleman  amid  the  perils 
of  battle,  he  had  no  other  authority  for  the  narrative  than  Living- 
ston himself.  As  Jackson  once  said,  "  Fighting,  not  writing,  is 
my  business !"  Livingston  might  have  exclaimed  in  the  inverse 
sense,  "  Writing,  not  fighting,  is  my  business !"  Again,  as  to  this 
matter,  the  reader  will  learn,  in  the  course  of  the  present  history, 
with  what  zeal  the  volunteer  adjutants,  of  whom  only  one  showed 
any  real  bravery,  applied  themselves  to  the  work  of  informing 
their  contemporaries  and  posterity  after  them  of  their  personal 
prowess.  The  excellent  proclamations  addressed  by  Jackson  to 
the  country,  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  city,  and  to  the  citizen  mili- 
tia ;  all  the  dispatches  sent  to  the  President,  at  Washington,  in 
relation  to  the  events  and  operations  transpiring  until  the  invading 
British  force  had  withdrawn,  were  from  Livingston's  pen.  The 
dispatch  at  the  close  of  the  brief  campaign  is  from  the  hand  of 
Mr.  Grymes. 

On  December  14th,  1814,  intelligence  was  received  at  New 
Orleans  that  the  English  squadron,  under  the  command  of 
Cochrane  and  Malcolm,  with  a  considerable  body  of  troops  on 


SHALL  I  VOLUNTEER?  205 

board,  had  appeared  in  the  waters  of  the  Florida  Gulf.  At  once 
all  was  bustle  at  New  Orleans — Jackson  was  untiringly  active. 
A  mile  and  a  half  in  the  rear  of  the  city  flows  the  Bayou  St.  John 
into  the  small  Lac  Borgne,  of  which  I  have  already  spoken.  From 
this  lake  the  Gulf  of  Florida  is  reached  by  a  narrow  pass,  called 
"  Les  rigoletsP  At  the  mouth  of  this  bayou  stands  a  small  fort, 
and  another  is  placed  half  way  up  the  pass,  but  both  together  do 
not  count  more  than  ten  cannon.  The  entrance  to  this  pass  was 
guarded  by  five  small  gunboats,  of  which  each  one  carried  a  24 
pounder  and  two  small  carronades,  and  was  commanded  by  officers 
of  the  United  States  navy. 

On  the  14th  of  December  these  gunboats  were  attacked  by  the 
English,  in  boats  filled  with  seamen  and  marines,  and  after  a  brief 
struggle  overpowered.  The  English  had  not  one  single  piece  of 
cannon  in  their  small  craft,  but  sustained  the  fire  of  the  gunboats 
with  great  coolness  as  they  approached,  and  took  them  by  board- 
ing. It  was  on  the  morning  of  the  16th,  or  two  days  after  this 
occurred,  that  Jackson  learned  the  capture  of  his  flotilla. 

The  only  perfectly  armed,  well  equipped,  and  really  disciplined 
corps  of  the  citizen  militia  under  the  general's  command,  was  the 
little  first  battalion  of  the  first  regiment,  consisting  of  about  550 
men,  and  counting,  among  its  officers  some  who  had  fought  beneath 
the  eye  of  Napoleon  in  Egypt ;  as,  for  example,  Mr.  P.  Roche,  at 
that  time  a  French  bookseller  at  New  Orleans.  My  situation 
had  become  a  critical  one.  I  was  entitled  to  complete  exemp- 
tion from  military  duty,  owing  to  the  fact  of  having  been  disa- 
bled by  my  fall  of  the  preceding  year.  I  could  have  folded  my 
arms  with  a  good  conscience ;  and,  not  as  many  of  the  young  in- 
habitants of  New  Orleans  would  have  liked  to  do  with  flimsy 
pretexts,  have  remained  inside  of  the  city  :  but,  as  the  suspicion 
of  entertaining  a  secret  preference  for  the  English  and  English 
interests  rested  on  me,  I  could  not  have  done  so  without  incurring 
malicious  remarks,  and,  very  probably,  persecution.  Apart  from 
this  inferior  motive  for  action,  I  could  not  coolly  have  listened  to 
the  near  roll  of  musketry  and  the  thunder  of  cannon  without  excite- 
ment. For  this  reason,  then,  I  determined  to  join  the  small  corps 
referred  te.  as  a  member  of  the  so-called  Carabineer  company. 


20(>  THE  VOLUNTEERS. 

The  little  battalion  was  sent,  on  that  very  same  day  (December 
lGth)  by  Jackson,  to  Bayou  St.  John,  and  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  Major  J.  B.  Planche,  a  native  of  Louisiana,  who  had 
hitherto  commanded  the  Carabineers.  A  second  company,  the 
Chasseurs,  was  put  under  the  order  of  St.  Romes,  an  emigrant 
from  St.  Domingo,  and  at  that  time  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
Courrier  de  la  Louisiane,  instead  of  their  captain,  Daquin,  who 
had  commanded  them  up  to  that  moment ;  a  third  was  intrusted 
to  St.  Geme,  another  French  emigrant,  who  had  been  for  some 
time  in  the  English  service  at  Jamaica ;  a  fourth,  consisting  en- 
tirely of  Irishmen,  had  one  of  their  countrymen,  called  Maunsel 
White,  at  their  head ;  and  the  remainder  of  the  battalion,  was  com- 
posed of  volunteer  mulattoes  and  negroes,  who  had  selected  Daquin, 
formerly  a  baker  at  St.  Domingo,  for  their  commander.  Jack- 
son's whole  force  consisted  of  these  two  half  battalions,  a  brace  of 
companies  belonging  to  the  second  regiment  of  United  States  regu- 
lars, one  company  of  artillerists,  also  from  the  regular  army,  and 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Humphries,  a  company  of  marines 
led  by  Major  Carmick,  and  the  1,500  riflemen  from  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky,  who  were  stationed  above  the  city.  At  that  mo- 
ment, too,  there  was  formed  a  company  of  volunteer  riflemen, 
under  the  command  of  a  Mr.  Beale,  a  man  of  advanced  years,  a 
native  of  Virginia,  and  then  residing  in  New  Orleans,  where  he 
had  some  reputation  as  a  fine  marksman.  This  company  was 
principally  made  up  of  Americans  from  the  northern  states,  and 
people  of  some  instruction :  it  numbered  among  its  ranks  Mr.  B. 
Lewis,  Judge  of  the  first  District  Court  in  Louisiana,  B.  Chew, 
Director  of  the  Custom  House,  Messrs.  Montgomery  &  Touro, 
still  living,  and  known  as  wealthy  and  respectable  merchants,  the 
deceased  merchants,  Story,  Kenner,  and  Henderson,  the  lawyer  Pou- 
ter de  Peystee,  and  many  others.  The  carabineers,  under  the  or- 
ders of  Roche,  also  contained  many  of  the  elite  of  the  population, 
among  them  Messrs.  Millaudon,  Musson,  McCall  and  Shepherd,  the 
former  three  still  living.  Jackson's  perseverance  and  energy,  in 
availing  himself  of  every  resource  at  his  command,  were  indefatiga- 
ble ;  and  all  the  more  necessary  too,  that  the  government,  owing  to 
the  lack  of  pecuniary  resources,  had  left  Louisiana  almost  unprovi 


BARATARIAN  PIRATES.  207 

ded  ;  but  again,  more  especially,  in  its  arrangements,  for  the  land 
troops  and  marines  had  displayed  a  most  astonishing  ignorance  and 
carelessness.  Thus,  they  had  sent  molasses  from  Boston  by  land 
and  down  the  western  rivers  to  New  Orleans,  apparently  entirely 
forgetting  that  Boston  and  the  northeastern  States  procured  that 
very  article  by  sea  from  New  Orleans !  What  I  am  about  to 
relate  in  the  next  paragraph  will  convey  an  idea  of  the  use  Jack- 
son managed  to  make  of  his  scattered  and  merely  adventitious  re- 
sources, as  well  as  the  skill  Livingston  displayed  in  turning  them 
to  account. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  colony  of  pirates,  which  infested 
the  little  islands  that  are  dotted  along  the  southern  shores  of  Lou- 
isiana, and  had  their  main  resort  at  Barataria  during  the  earlier 
years  of  the  American  occupancy  of  that  province.  At  the  head 
of  these  marauding  bands  were  the  two  brothers  Lafitte,  from  Ba- 
yonne,  the  elder  of  whom  called  himself  the  emperor  of  Barataria, 
and  often  published  parodies  of  the  Napoleonic  proclamations  in 
the  paper  of  his  friend  Leclerc.  I  have  also  intimated  that  La- 
fitte, his  brother  Beluche,  and  others,  celebrated  pirates,  frequently 
showed  themselves  in  the  streets  of  New  Orleans,  which  they 
usually  paraded  arm  in  arm  with  Livingston's  brother-in-law, 
Davezac,  and  with  Leclerc,  both  of  whom  they  regarded  as  bosom- 
friends.  Several  times  caught,  as  they  were,  Livingston  and  his 
brother-in-law  always  managed  to  get  them  released.  The  native- 
born  citizens  of  French  origin,  or  Creoles,  as  they  are  called,  and 
the  French  and  Spaniards  who  had  settled  there,  could  not  appre- 
ciate the  superiority  of  a  jury,  but  fourd  it  a  rather  burdensome 
arrangement.  It  is  better,  said  they,  to  have  salaried  judges  :  and 
when  a  case  arose,  where  pirates  were  to  be  liberated,  the  success 
was  almost  a  certainty.  Ces  gens  la,  said  most  of  the  French, 
font  leurs  affaires,  pour  qu  oi  g  frier  leur  metier  I — those  people  have 
their  own  pursuit,  why  interfere  with  it  %  Their  accomplice  and 
•  business  agent  in  New  Orleans  was  called  Sauvinet  (I  have  named 
him  before),  and  also  hailed  from  Bayonne.  He  had  a  counting- 
room  in  the  suburb  of  Marigny,  where  he  employed  a  bookkeeper, 
named  Laporte,  who  worked  for  me  in  the  years  1806  and  1807. 
When  the  pirate  settlement  in  the  island  of  Barataria  had  been 


208  EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 

driven  out  by  the  American  navy,  Beluche,  who  afterwards  en- 
tered the  service  of  the  young  Venezuelan  republic  as  a  commo- 
dore, and  a  certain  Dominique,  took  the  piratical  business  into 
their  own  hands  as  an  inheritance,  by  default  of  other  heirs.  The 
latter,  a  remarkably  bold  man,  had  been  captured  by  the  Ameri- 
can revenue  cutters,  and  when  the  English  fleet,  under  Admirals 
Cochrane  and  Malcolm,  appeared  in  the  waters  of  Florida,  was 
confined  in  the  jail  at  New  Orleans.  Countless  proofs  of  his  pira- 
cies, even  against  American  shipping,  and  of  the  cooperation  of 
Beluche,  who  had  escaped  in  time,  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Ame- 
rican government,  and  the  gallows  seemed  unavoidable.  Investi- 
gation had  led  to  the  discovery  that  Major  St.  Geme  (referred  to 
above),  of  our  battalion,  was  Dominique's  partner  and  go-between. 
This  man  was,  like  Sauvinet,  in  good  circumstances,  and  owned 
several  houses  in  the  city.  Dominique,  in  jail,  and  Sauvinet,  out- 
side of  it,  applied  to  Livingston,  and  made  him  their  legal  adviser 
and  attorney.  The  sum  offered  to  him,  if  he  should  succeed  in 
procuring  their  liberation,  of  course  could  never  be  exactly  ascer- 
tained. Common  report  throughout  the  city  put  it  as  high  as 
15,000  Spanish  dollars.  The  overwhelming  evidence  against  Do- 
minique rendered  his  judicial  release  impossible  ;  but  his  libera- 
tion, and  the  quashing  of  all  further  proceedings  against  him,  St. 
Geme,  Beluche,  and  all  the  rest  who  were  suspected  of  being 
pirates,  was  brought  about  by  Livingston,  who  resorted  to  the 
very  simple  means  of  getting  Dominique  and  Beluche  to  offer 
their  services  to  Jackson  against  the  English,  in  the  name  of  their 
bands,  under  condition  that  he  would  apply  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States  for  their  pardon.  Jackson  was  too  keen  not  to 
see  through  Livingston's  object  at  once ;  he  had  found  in  him  a 
man  who  was  not  troubled  by  any  scruples  of  conscience,  and  to 
whom,  as  to  himself,  all  means  were  good  that  led  to  the  accom 
plishment  of  an  object.  Moreover,  good  fighting  men  were  wanted, 
and  Livingston  represented  the  advantages  that  were  to  be  antici- 
pated from  the  cooperation  of  these  men,  from  their  influence 
with  the  lower  classes  of  the  French  population,  from  their  intre- 
pidity, and  their  skill  in  handling  the  heavier  description  of  artil- 
lery, ir  such  glowing  colors,  that  the  general  at  length  gave  his 


JACKSON'S  DETERMINATE  N.  200 

consent,  all  the  more  readily  that  he  was  aware  of  the  negotiations 
that  the  English  adventurer,  Edward  Nicholas,  had  ere  this  been 
carrying  on  with  them.  The  prison-door  was  thrown  open  to 
Dominique,  Beluche  presented  himself,  and  in  a  few  days  the  two 
received  the  command  of  a  battery,  which  was  afterwards  called 
No.  3,  and  with  which  I  was  brought  into  close  contact. 

In  the  forenoon  of  December  23d,  Jackson  received  the  first 
intelligence  of  the  landing  of  the  British.  The  news  was  sent  to 
him  by  the  militia  general  Villere,  a  sugar  planter.  Five  or  six 
hundred  of  the  invading  troops  had  landed  on  his  estate,  which 
they  had  reached  by  the  small  canal  Villere,  flowing  into  Lac 
Borgne.  A  picket  guard  of  young  planters  had  been  intrusted 
with  the  charge  of  watching  the  entrance  to  this  small  canal, 
although  no  one  had  thought  it  likely  that  the  enemy  would 
attempt  to  land  there.  These  young  gentlemen,  persuaded  that 
there  was  nothing  to  apprehend,  meanwhile  amused  themselves  in 
hunting  through  the  neighboring  woods,  so  that,  during  their 
absence,  the  English  boats  were  enabled  to  pass  unperceived  up 
the  channel,  and  land  their  troops.  General  Villere  discovered 
them,  one  morning  when  he  went  out  to  examine  his  sugar  fields. 
The  English  had  thus  been  on  shore  for  three  days  before  the  fact 
was  known  in  New  Orleans.  But  Jackson's  resolution  was  now 
taken.  "  We  will,"  said  he  ;  "  now  give  them  a  little  taste  of 
what  they  may  expect !  They  shall  find  out  whom  they  have  to 
deal  with  !"  When  he  heard  the  women  and  children  crying  for 
terror,  in  the  streets,  he  ordered  Livingston  to  tell  them  that 
"  he  was  there,  and  that  the  British  should  never  get  into  the  city, 
so  long  as  he  held  the  command  !" 

In  some  accounts  of  that  epoch,  it  is  affirmed  that  the  general, 
at  once,  arrested  and  imprisoned  suspicious  citizens ;  but  such  a 
thing  was  not  thought  of,  as  there  was  neither  time  nor  occasion 
for  the  adoption  of  any  such  measure.  The  general  was  burning 
with  impatience  to  come  to  close  quarters  with  the  red  coats,  as 
he  called  them.  He  wanted  to  fight.  There  was  no  computation 
of  relative  force,  and  not  much  idea  of  tactics,  or  plan.  Jackson 
had  bent  all  the  strength  of  his  will  on  one  single  point,  and  that 
was  to  meet,  and  drive  off  the  red  coats.     "  I  will  smash  them," 


210  FORWARD,  MARCH. 

he  would  exclaim,  "  so  help  me  God  !"  Two  field-pieces,  with 
the  few  companies  of  regulars,  were  at  once  ordered,  under 
Captain  Humphries,  to  pass  down  the  only  military  road,  which 
runs  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississippi  river,  from  and  to  the 
city.  They  were  to  proceed  as  far  as  Villere's  plantation,  and 
were  followed  by  the  companies  of  sharp-shooters,  under  Beale, 
whose  directions  were  to  throw  themselves  into  the  thickets  and 
low- woods,  cyprieres,  as  they  are  termed  ;  next  to  these  came  the 
1200  riflemen  from  Tennessee,  who  had  been  provided  with  horses 
from  all  the  neighboring  plantations.  These  men  joined  Beale's 
command,  and  extended  themselves  through  the  woods,  called 
cyprieres,  which  border  all  the  plantations,  until  the  mulatto-corps, 
which  marched  up  after  them,  and  formed  their  right  wing, 
reached  the  extremity  of  their  long  line,  and  joined  them.  About 
3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  both  the  battalions  stationed  at  Bayoi. 
St.  John,  received  orders  to  come  to  the  city,  with  all  possible 
speed.  They  arrived  about  4  o'clock,  were  immediately  inspected 
before  the  Fort  St.  Charles,  between  the  city  and  the  suburb  of 
Marygny,  fully  provided  with  powder  and  ball,  and  directed  at 
once  to  follow  the  mounted  Tennessee  riflemen.  It  took  these 
men  more  than  an  hour  to  file  past,  two  by  two,  with  their  rifles 
in  their  hands  and  resting  on  their  knee,  each  following  the 
other  step  by  step.  Our  Major,  Planche,  was  very  much  agitated. 
He  turned  round  to  me  and  said,  in  almost  piteous  tone,  "  Alas  ! 
I  scarcely  feel  that  I  have  courage  enough  to  lead  fathers  of 
families  to  battle !"  But  our  Captain,  Roche,  who  was  "  made 
of  sterner  stuff,"  and  might  be  called  a  practiced  soldier,  rejoined : 
"  Don't  talk  in  that  way,  Major !  Come  now  !  that's  not  the  kind 
of  tone  to  use,  at  this  time !"  With  these  words,  he  wheeled 
about  to  us,  and  shouted  : — "  Come,  lads  !  forward  !  Do  your 
duty  like  brave  fellows !"  The  Villere  plantation  was  about  eight 
or  nine  miles  from  the  city.  We  hurried  towards  it  with  a  zeal, 
which,  for  inexperienced  militia  who  had  not  yet  smelt  powder, 
might  have  been  called  almost  heroic,  had  not  Jackson's  own 
example  spurred  us  on,  or  had  not  many  remained  in  careless 
ignorance  of  what  awaited  them.  With  our  silent  band  of 
musicians  in  front,  almost  at  a  running  pace,  we  reached  Villere's 


A  BATTLE.  211 

plantation  within  about  two  hours,  just  as  twilight  was  drawing 
on,  and  in  profound  silence  ;  in  advance  of  us,  on  the  road,  stood 
the  two  companies  of  regulars,  headed  by  Captain  Humphries, 
with  his  two  field-pieces,  and  matches  lit.  The  regulars  were  to 
have  this  small  battery  on  their  right  wing,  the  battalion  of  New 
Orleans  volunteers,  i.  e.  the  one  to  which  I  belonged,  joining  them, 
the  mulatto  corps,  under  Major  Daquin,  next  to  us, — the  move- 
ment was  to  be  made  by  echelons,  thus  forming  a  connected  line 
with  the  Tennessee  sharp-shooters,  who  had  inarched  off  to  one 
side ;  the  firing  was  not  to  commence  until  the  battery  had  opened, 
and  the  regulars  had  set  the  example.  At  this  moment,  Captain 
Roche  stepped  in  front  and  commanded  "  Sergeant  Roche !" 
this  was  his  brother.  The  latter  advanced  and  was  met  by  the 
Captain,  who  said,  "  Let  us  embrace,  brother  !  It  may  be  for 
the  last  time  !"  The  request  was  complied  with.  Then  came  a 
second  word  of  command,  "  Sergeant  Roche  ! — to  your  post !" 
We  had  only  completed  our  echelon  march,  and  taken  our  posi 
tions  for  a  few  minutes,  when  the  cannon  roared  ;  the  return  fire 
rapidly  followed,  and  it  was  by  the  flash  of  the  muskets  that  wre, 
for  the  first  time,  got  a  sight  of  the  red  coats  of  the  English,  who 
were  posted  on  a  small  acclivity  in  front  of  us,  about  a  gun-shot 
distant.  I  noted  this  circumstance,  and  at  the  same  moment 
observed  the  peculiar  method  of  firing  adopted  by  the  English, 
who  still  kept  up  the  old  custom  of  three  deep :  one  row  of  men 
half-kneeling,  and  two  other  ranks  firing  over  their  shoulders. 
This  style  of  firing,  along  with  the  darkness  of  the  evening, 
explained  to  me  the  reason  why  the  enemy's  balls,  wThich  we 
heard  whistling  by,  mostly  flew  over  our  heads,  and  only  seven 
men  were  wounded,  five  of  them  belonging  to  our  own  company. 
After  the  lapse  of  about  twenty  minutes,  the  word  wras  passed  to 
cease  firing.  On  the  English  side  only  a  fewr  retreating  dis- 
charges were  dropped  in,  from  time  to  time.  We  saw  about 
sixty  English  captured  by  the  Tennessee  riflemen,  and  led  off 
towards  the  road,  and  at  the  same  time,  learned  that  about  one 
half  of  our  own  sharp-shooters,  from  the  city,  had  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  English.  Their  Captain,  Beale,  a  great  braggart, 
who  was  the  ally  and  friend  of  my  miserable  enemy,  Saul,  had 


212  A  RETREAT. 

completely  disappeared,  so  that  he  was  supposed  to  be  dead ;  for 
that  he  would  hide,  and  leave  his  little  command  in  the  lurch,  as 
was  afterwards  ascertained,  no  one  at  that  moment  believed  ;  but 
not  one  of  these  volunteers  was  really  shot,  excepting  Parmlee,  a 
merchant. 

The  night  was  very  cold.  Wearied  by  our  long  march,  and 
standing  in  the  open  field,  we  all  wanted  to  make  a  fire,  and  at 
length,  at  the  special  request  of  our  major,  permission  to  kindle 
one  was  obtained.  Within  twenty  minutes  we  saw  innumerable 
watchfires  blazing  up  in  a  line  extending,  like  a  crescent,  from  the 
shores  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  woods,  and  stretching  far  away 
behind  the  plantations  of  Villere,  Lacoste,  and  others,  occupied  by 
the  English,  on  whose  minds,  as  well  as  on  our  own,  the  impres- 
sion must  have  been  produced,  that  Jackson  had  many  more 
troops  under  his  command  and  near  the  spot  than  any  one  had 
supposed.  Shortly  before  daybreak  an  order  came  for  a  general 
retreat,  which  our  battalion  was  to  cover,  and  which  was  to  be 
made  in  the  same  order  as  we  observed  in  assuming  our  position 
on  the  field — Humphries'  field-pieces  in  front,  then  the  regulars  ; 
behind  them  the  mulatto  corps,  followed  by  the  mounted  riflemen, 
and  our  battalion  bringing  up  the  rear.  About  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning  we  halted,  and,  as  the  sun  rose,  we  found  ourselves 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  distant  from  the  little  battle-field,  and  on 
the  plantation  of  Mr.  E.  Macarty,  where  we  took  up  position  in 
the  same  order  as  on  the  previous  evening  behind  the  small  canal 
that  leads  from  the  military  road  to  the  woods  or  cyprieres  which 
border  the  shores  of  Lac  Borgne.  General  Jackson  occupied  the 
planter's  house  as  his  head-quarters.  Our  company  was  stationed 
at  a  distance  of  about  180  steps  from  it,  on  the  canal.  Measures 
were  immediately  taken  to  form  intrenchments ;  i.  e.,  the  ground 
along  the  canal  was  thrown  up  in  a  sort  of  parapet  or  breastwork, 
to  cover  the  little  army.  I  now,  for  the  first  time,  learned  from 
my  friends,  who  surrounded  the  general's  person,  what  had  occur- 
red during  the  night.  It  had  been  Jackson's  anxious  desire  to 
renew  at  daybreak  the  conflict,  which  night  had  interrupted,  and 
to  attack  the  British  vigorously.  But  he  learned,  from  scouts, 
that  the  English  Major-<  -  sneral  Keane,  who  commanded  the  1200 


JACKSON'S  SELF-COMMAND.  213 

men  first  disembarked,  head  received  a  reinforcement  of  3500 
men.  Jackson  was,  nevertheless,  as  much  as  ever  disposed  to 
assail  the  English,  with  his  small  force  of  inexperienced  militia, 
but  his  aide,  Livingston,  very  prudently  advised  him  to  consult 
Major  St.  Geme.  The  latter  had  gone  about  a  good  deal  with 
Moreau,  when  the  latter  visited  New  Orleans  a  few  years  before, 
and  had  examined  its  situation  with  the  critical  eye  of  a  tactician  ; 
had  studied  its  capabilities  for  defence  in  case  of  a  hostile  attack, 
and,  hence,  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  give  Jackson  some  excellent 
advice.  This  he  did,  and  had  the  great  merit  of  making  Jackson 
comprehend  that  Keane,  with  his  6,000  men,  would,  in  the  open 
field,  surround,  defeat,  and  capture  him  and  his  small  force  of  raw 
levies,  who  had  not  much  more  of  the  soldier  about  them  than  the 
mere  name ;  he  then  pointed  out  the  Macarty  canal  or  channel, 
so  called,  behind  which  we  had  assumed  position,  as  the  very  spot 
that  Moreau  himself  had  indicated  as  the  best  one  adapted  to  a 
defence  of  the  city,  particularly  by  unpractised  troops.  Jackson 
listened  to  this  advice,  and,  highly  as  we  may  prize  the  merit  of 
his  unwearied  energy,  perseverance,  and  intrepidity,  his  self-com- 
mand upon  this  occasion  is  worthy  of  still  loftier  praise,  as  it  was 
a  quality  which  he  did  not  always  exhibit  during  the  course  of 
his  life ;  nor  must  we  forget  the  keen-sightedness  that  ever  distin- 
guished, him,  when,  as  in  this  case,  his  own  inclinations  and  pas- 
sions had  to  yield  to  the  dictates  of  calm,  calculating  reason.  He 
felt  that  his  reputation  was  at  stake — a  reputation  which  he  had 
still  to  establish,  and,  consequently,  could  not  trifle  with,  except- 
ing at  the  risk  of  meeting  with  a  fate  similar  in  some  respects  to 
that  of  the  unfortunate  General  Hull,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war; 
a  vicissitude  which  Jackson's  haughty  and  impatient  spirit  could 
scarcely  have  endured.  What  obligations,  however,  the  whole 
country,  the  State  of  Louisiana,  and  particularly  the  inhabitants 
of  the  city,  owe  to  Edward  Livingston,  the  author  of  its  criminal 
Code,  for  this  sage  advice,  my  readers  will  be  able  to  judge  for 
themselves,  and  posterity  cannot,  without  injustice,  ignore.  I 
have  elsewhere  remarked  that  this  accomplished  statesman  and 
jurist  did  not  possess  the  quality  of  valor,  and  it  consequently 
awakened  the  astonishment  of  every  one,  when  he,  on  the  evening 


214  JACKSON  AND  THE  LEGISLATURE. 

of  the  23d,  and  through  the  ensuing  night,  appeared  on  horseback, 
among  the  whizzing  bullets  of  the  British,  and  seemed  by  no 
means  an  inactive  combatant.  This  was  the  first,  but  also  the 
last  time  he  exposed  himself,  in  a  similar  manner. 

On  Christmas  Day,  December  25th,  1814,  about  7  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  we  perceived  that  a  small  battery  of  24-pounders 
had  been  put  up  by  the  English,  on  the  road  skirting  the  shore  and 
opposite  to  the  little  revenue  schooner  Carolina,  which  they  had 
been  firing  into  on  the  preceding  evening.  This,  as  we  afterwards 
learned  from  the  British  dispatches,  had  been  done  under  the 
direction  of  Admiral  Malcolm,  the  second  officer  in  command  of 
the  fleet.  He  was  at  the  battery  in  person,  and,  without  loss  of 
time,  directed  so  hot  and  well-aimed  a  cannonade  at  the  schooner, 
that  we  saw  it  blow  up,  in  about  twenty  minutes.  While  this 
was  transpiring,  the  English  made  a  very  feeble  demonstration  on 
the  high  road,  but  again  fell  back.  On  board  of  the  schooner  was 
the  commander  of  the  whole  station,  my  intimate  friend,  Captain 
Daniel  T.  Patterson,  now  dead ;  he  had  left  the  doomed  craft  a 
few  moments  before  the  flames  reached  her  magazine,  and  at  once 
repaired  on  board  of  the  Louisiana,  a  small  corvette,  with  an 
armament  of  about  16  guns.  This  vessel  had  grounded  in  a  shal- 
low, but  could  sweep  the  road  with  her  fire,  as  the  Mississippi  is 
scarcely  half  a  mile  wide,  at  that  point. 

The  Legislature  was,  just  at  this  time,  holding  its  sessions  in 
the  city.  Jackson  had  openly  declared  that  he  would  imitate  the 
example  of  the  Russians  at  Moscow,  and  consign  the  whole  city 
to  the  flames,  should  he  not  be  able  to  defend  it,  for  he  was  deter 
mined  the  English  should  reap  no  profit  from  their  success. 
Several  members  of  the  Assembly  had  talked  together  about  this 
menace,  in  the  antechamber  of  the  State  House,  and  had  consulted 
together  whether  it  would  not  be  better,  should  the  British  prove 
too  strong,  to  surrender  the  city,  than  to  have  it  destroyed  in  the 
way  proposed;  but,  no  formal  .leliberation  had  taken  place. 
However,  Jackson,  who  had  heard  what  was  going  on,  authorized 
Governor  William  C.  Claiborne  to  arrest  any  of  the  members 
who  should  be  heard  advocating  such  a  course,  in  case  the  delibe- 
ration were  h«\d.     The  Governor  was  no  friend  of  Jackson's :  he 


COTTON-BALE  REDOUBTS.  215 

feared  his  superiority,  and  followed  his  orders,  only,  because 
resistance  was  impossible.  Jackson,  who  would  not  tolerate  any 
evasion,  dictatorially  ordered  the  Governor,  who  was  a  weak, 
intriguing,  spiritless  man,  more  concerned  about  his  personal 
popularity  than  for  anything  else,  to  make  no  exception,  but  to 
disperse  the  Assembly,  and  Claiborne  obeyed  with  visible  reluc- 
tance, as  if  he  would  say :  "  You  see,  gentlemen,  it  is  not  my 
fault,"  and  closed  the  doors  of  the  Legislative  Hall. 

A  general  order  was  now  issued,  requiring  every  one  who  had 
superfluous  arms  in  his  possession,  to  bring  them  to  the  arsenal, 
and  all  ab'e-bodied  men,  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  fifty  to 
hold  themselves  in  readiness  for  military  service.  No  distinction 
whatever  was  made  between  regular  inhabitants  of  the  city  and 
strangers  who  had  just  come  down  the  river  and  lodged  in  the 
various  taverns.  These  were  armed  and  enrolled  in  the  second 
regiment  Louisiana  militia;  but  were  not  disciplined.  Among 
them  was  a  Scotch  merchant,  Andrew  Milne  by  name,  of  the 
house  of  H.  Munro  and  Co.,  and  resident  of  New  Orleans,  where 
he  had  remained  in  the  quality  of  a  British  subject ;  this  man  now 
saw  himself  compelled  to  bear  arms  against  his  own  countrymen, 
and  subjects  of  the  same  government. 

On  the  morning  after  our  retreat  from  the  plantation  of  Villere, 
where  we  had  attacked  the  British  on  the  preceding  evening, 
attempts,  as  I  have  already  stated,  were  made  to  throw  up  a 
oreast-work  along  the  Macarty  canal.  The  whole  soil,  in  that 
neighborhood,  consists  of  soft  marshy  ground,  and  when  you  have 
dug  to  the  depth  of  three  feet,  you  find  nothing  but  mud  and 
water.  Hence,  when  the  effort  was  made  to  make  an  intrench- 
ment  around  the  camp,  and  to  erect  the  five  or  six  redoubts  which 
were  to  have  been  raised  along  the  Macarty  canal,  the  miriness 
of  the  soil  rendered  all  exertions  utterly  fruitless.  A  French 
engineer  then  suggested  to  Jackson  the  idea  of  filling  up  the  hol- 
lowed redoubts  with  cotton-bales,  laid,  to  the  depth  of  three  or 
four,  one  above  the  other :  the  wooden  platforms  which  were  to 
sustain  the  heavy  cannon  which  had  been  dragged  from  the  arse- 
nal, could  then  be  placed  upon  the  cotton-bales,  and  there  secured, 
while  the  crenellated  openings  on  both  sides  of  the  redoubt  could 


216  DEFEND  YOUR  OWN  COTTON. 

be  constructed  with  six  or  eight  bales  fastened  to  the  main-body 
of  the  redoubt  by  iron  rings,  and  covered  with  adhesive  earth. 
After  the  retreat  of  the  English,  we  heard  that  they  had  thought 
of  a  similar  device ;  but,  as  they  could  find  no  cotton,  they  had 
used,  the  sugar  in  casks  which  they  had  picked  up  on  the  various 
plantations.  Jackson,  who  at  once  adopted  the  plan,  was  anxious 
to  lose  no  time.  It  was  intimated  to  him,  that,  in  the  city,  he 
could  procure  plenty  of  cotton,  at  from  seven  to  eight  cents  per 
pound ;  but,  that  it  would  cost  a  whole  day  to  bring  it  to  the  spot : 
he  was  then  told  that  not  far  from  the  camp,  and  in  the  rear  of 
his  position,  there  lay  a  bark  in  the  stream  laden  with  cotton,  for 
Havana :  the  name  of  this  vessel  was  the  Pallas,  unless  my  mem- 
ory, after  the  lapse  of  thirty-eight  years,  deceives  me,  and  she  was 
to  have  sailed  before  the  arrival  of  the  British  force.  Her  cargo 
consisted  of  245  bales,  which  I  had  shipped  previously  to  the  inva- 
sion, and  the  remainder,  about  sixty  bales,  belonged  to  the  Spa- 
niard, named  Fernando  Alzar,  resident  at  New  Orleans.  It  was 
only  when  the  cotton  had  been  brought  to  the  camp,  and  they 
were  proceeding- to  lay  the  first  bales  in  the  redoubt,  that  the 
marks  struck  my  attention,  and  I  recognized  my  own  property. 
Adjutant  Livingston,  who  had  been  my  usual  legal  counsel  at  New 
Orleans,  that  same  evening  inspected  Battery  No.  3,  where  the 
men  were  arranging  some  bales.  I  was  somewhat  vexed  at  the 
idea  of  their  taking  cotton  of  the  best  sort,  and  worth  from  ten  to 
eleven  cents,  out  of  a  ship  already  loaded  and  on  the  point  of 
sailing,  instead  of  procuring  the  cheaper  kind,  which  was  to  be 
had  in  plenty  throughout  the  suburbs  of  the  city,  at  seven  or 
eight  cents,  and  said  as  much  to  Livingston,  He,  who  was  never 
at  a  loss  for  a  reply,  at  once  answered :  "  Well,  Mr.  Nolte,  if  this 
is  your  cotton,  "you,  at  least,  will  not  think  it  any  hardship  to 
defend  it."  This  anecdote,  which  was  first  related  by  myself,  gave 
rise  to  the  story  that  Jackson,  when  a  merchant  was  complaining 
of  the  loss  of  his  cotton,  had  ordered  a  sergeant  to  hand  the  gen- 
tleman a  rifle,  with  the  remark :  "  No  one  can  defend  these  cotton- 
bales  better  than  their  owners  can,  and  I  hope  that  you  will  not 
leave  the  spot !" 

The  line  of  redoubts,  running  from  the  shore  to  the  Cyprieres, 


JACKSON'S  HEAD-QUARTERS.  217 

which  extended  forwards  from  our  left  wing  to  the  rear  of  the  Eng- 
lish camp,  gave  shelter  to  about  1500  men.  The  whole  left  wing, 
by  the  Cyprieres,  was  covered  with  the  picked  men  of  Jackson's 
Tennessee  rifle  corps.  These  marksmen  had  thrown  themselves  in, 
among  the  thickest  of  the  Cyprieres,  and  had  cut  narrow  openings 
in  every  direction,  so  as  to  get  fair  sight,  and  in  these  openings 
they  quietly  rested  their  rifles  in  such  a  way  that  they  could,  to 
use  their  own  expression,  bring  down  every  "  redcoat  who  showed 
himself  within  range  of  their  unerring  weapons."  There  could 
be  no  pleasanter  or  more  useful  way  of  passing  the  time,  these 
sharpshooters  thought,  than  in  practising  their  skill  upon  the 
enemy's  sentinels  and  outposts,  at  sunset,  and  by  the  first  dawn 
of  morning.  Even  in  the  night-time,  the  English  post  had  to  be 
resupplied.  How  often  at  sunrise  did  the  invaders  find  as  many 
corpses  stretched  on  the  ground  as  they  had  sentinels  stationed 
there,  the  preceding  night ! 

Some  attempts  were  made  to  establish  a  second  line  of  re- 
doubts to  the  rear  of  Jackson's  first  position  :  but  these  did  not 
succeed..  At  this  point  were  placed  the  unarmed  Kentucky 
volunteers,  who  had  come  down  the  river,  and,  as  already  inti 
mated,  the  undisciplined  second  regiment  of  Louisiana  militia. 
Communication  was  by  no  means  cut  off  between  the  two  lines, 
no  matter  how  many  stories  may  be  told  about  the  second  line 
remaining  in  complete  ignorance  of  what  the  first  was  doing.  On 
the  contrary,  it  was  easy  to  obtain  permission  from  the  com- 
manding officers,  at  any  time  to  visit  an  acquaintance  in  the  second 
line,  or  even  in  the  city.  It  could  not  long  remain  unknown  to 
the  English  that  Jackson  had  his  headquarters  in  Macarty's 
house,  but  the  shots  they  directed  against  it  did  very  little 
damage.  The  house  was  still  standing  in  the  year  1838,  when  I 
visited  it,  and  saw  the  cannon-balls  still  embedded  in  its  walls, 
where  the  owners  had,  in  their  enthusiasm,  caused  them  to  be  gilt, 
in  the  year  1822. 

At  sunrise,  on  New  Year's  Day,  1815,  both  camps  were  cov- 
ered by  a  heavy  fog.  Through  the  night  we  heard  a  deadened 
hammering  from  the  English  quarters,  and  when  about  8  o'clock 
the  mist  began  to  dissipate,  a  fearful  cannonade  commenced  upon 

10 


218  NEW  YEAR'S  DAY  1815. 

us.  They  had  brought  heavy  guns  from  the  fleet,  and  had  erected 
large  batteries  of  twenty -four  and  twenty-six  pounders.  The  largest 
British  battery  had  directed  its  fire  against  the  battery  of  the  pirates 
Dominique  and  Beluche,  who  had  divided  our  company  into  two 
parts,  and  were  supplied  with  ammunition  by  it.  Once,  as  Do- 
minique was  examining  the  enemy  through  a  glass,  a  cannon  shot 
wounded  his  arm ;  he  caused  it  to  be  bound  up,  saying,  "  I  will 
pay  them  for  that !"  and  resumed  his  glass.  He  then  directed  a 
twenty -four  pounder,  gave  the  order  to  fire,  and  the  ball  knocked 
an  English  gun-carriage  to  pieces,  and  killed  six  or  seven  men. 
Our  company  lost  that  day  but  one  man,  our  least,  a  French 
hatter,  called  Laborde.  For  predestinarians  I  would  mention  that 
the  young  notary,  Philippe  Peddesclaux,  was  standing  exactly  in 
front  of  Laborde,  and  the  latter  would  not  have  been  hit  had  he 
not  been  bending  forward  at  the  moment  to  light  his  cigar 
by  my  neighbor,  St.  Avit's.  When  the  latter  turned  he  saw  La- 
borde's  scattered  brains  and  prostrate  body.  The  flash  of  a  gun 
reaches  the  eye  long  before  the  report  gets  to  the  ear,  and  thus 
the  ball  can  sometimes  be  avoided.  I  have  watched  both  the 
flash  and  the  report,  and  I  have  seen  the  best  tried  soldiers,  both 
officers  and  men,  even  the  utterly  fearless  Jackson  himself,  getting 
out  of  the  way  of  the  Congreve  rockets,  which  were  sent  in  great 
quantities  from  the  British  camp,  and  which  were  particularly 
abundant  on  the  morning  of  the  eighth  of  January.  Others, 
again,  either  actuated  by  a  different  principle,  or  less  prudently 
observant  of  danger  and  less  anxious  to  avoid  it,  like  my  friend  St. 
Avit  for  instance,  remained,  confident  in  their  fate,  in  the  same 
position,  and  stood  quietly,  as  if  all  the  roar  of  the  cannon  and  the 
hissing  of  missiles  about  their  ears,  was  entirely  without  interest 
for  them. 

On  this  day,  which  saw  our  whole  line,  except  the  batteries, 
exposed  to  the  fire  from  8  o'clock  A.  M.  to  3  o'clock  P.  M.,  my 
worthy  friend,  Major  Carmick,  who  commanded  the  volunteer 
battalion,  and  was  near  the  pirates'  battery,  was  struck  by  a  Con- 
greve rocket  on  the  forehead,  knocked  off  his  horse,  and  both  his 
arms  injured.  I  asked  leave  to  accompany  him  to  the  guard- 
house, and  as  we  reached  the  low  garden-wall  behind  Jackson's 


EIGHTH  OF  JANUARY.  219 

headquarters,  I  saw  to  my  great  amazement  two  of  the  General's 
volunteer  adjutants,  Duncan  the  lawyer,  and  District  Marshal 
Duplessis,  lying  flat  on  the  ground  to  escape  the  British  balls. 
Livingston  was  invisible — writing  and  reading  of  proclamations 
kept  him  out  of  sight.  The  General,  during  this  five  hours 
cannonade,  was  constantly  riding  from  one  wing  to  the  other,  ac- 
companied by  his  usual  military  aids,  Reed  and  Butler,  and  the 
two  advocates,  Grymes  and  Davezac.  Only  four  of  the  Ten- 
nessee riflemen  were  left  in  the  wood. 

The  first  week  of  the  new  year  was  occupied  in  strengthening 
our  defences,  and  it  was  particularly  ordered  to  have  plenty  of 
ammunition  in  readiness.  The  munitions  were  in  charge  of  Gov. 
Claiborne,  who  was  so  frightened  that  he  could  scarcely  speak. 
On  the  first  of  January  ammunition  was  wanting  at  batteries  Nos. 
1  and  2.  Jackson  sent  in  a  fury  for  Claiborne,  who  was  with  the 
second  division,  and  said  to  him,  "  By  the  Almighty  God,  if  you 
do  not  send  me  balls  and  powder  instantly,  I  shall  chop  off  your 
head,  and  have  it  rammed  into  one  of  those  field-pieces." 

On  the  8th  of  January  the  battle  took  place  which  compelled  the 
English  to  resign  all  hope  of  attacking  the  city,  and  to  retire. 
The  reader  will  remember  that  on  the  evening  of  the  23d  of  Decem- 
ber half  of  the  volunteer  corps,  thirty  in  number,  had  been  taken 
prisoners;  among  them  were  Story  and  Robert  Montgomery, 
merchants,  and  Porter,  the  lawyer.  The  same  evening  they  were 
questioned  by  Major  General  Keane,  about  the  strength  of  Jack- 
son's forces,  and  then  taken  to  the  fleet  before  Dolphin  Isl- 
and, and  to  the  admiral's  ship ;  where  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
Pakenham,  a  brother-in-law  of  Wellington,  and  for  some  time  head 
of  his  staff,  in  the  Spanish  Peninsular,  examined  them  anew  in 
presence  of  Admiral  Cochrane.  They  would  give  but  one  answer 
— that  Jackson  had  under  him  about  30,000  men — 12,000  in 
Mobile  and  the  rest  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city :  for  he  had 
said,  before  the  arrival  of  the  British,  with  one  or  more  oaths, 
"  I'll  flog  them,  so  help  me  God."  The  prisoners  were  examined 
separately,  but  all  gave  the  same  answer.  It  was  no  wonder, 
then,  that  the  semi-circle  of  watch-fires  in  the  rear  of  the  English 
camp  appeared  to  General  Keane  to  confirm  these  statements. 


220  PLANS  OF  THE  BRITISH. 

He  could  not  suppose  but  that  all  these  watch/trers  were  sur- 
rounded by  troops.  Thus,  a  mere  carelessness  became  of  great 
advantage ;  and  the  English  believed  that  they  were  opposed  to 
at  least  15,000,  although  in  truth  there  were  not  more  than  half 
that  number.  They  knew,  from  deserters  from  our  line,  that 
what  regulars  Jackson  had  were  in  the  right  wing,  and  that  the 
left  was  composed  of  militia.  As  the  report  of  Major  Gen.  Lam- 
bert afterwards  proved,  Pakenham  determined  to  attack  with 
three  columns ;  of  which  the  smallest,  of  800  men,  was  commanded 
by  Major  Rennie,  and  was  to  make  a  demonstration  only 
against  the  redoubt  facing  the  British  left  wing.  The  centre 
column,  under  General  Gibbs,  numbered  4000  men,  and  the  right 
wing  6000 — which  ought  easily  to  have  overthrown  the  undrilled 
militia,  and  attacked  Jackson  in  the  rear.  At  the  same  time,  1000 
men,  under  Colonel  Thompson,  were  to  cross  the  river,  drive  the 
Americans  from  their  defences  on  the  right  bank,  and  so  fall  upon 
the  rear  of  the  American  left.  Two  rockets  from  the  camp  were  to 
give  the  signal  for  the  march  of  the  columns,  and  the  attacks  were  to 
be  simultaneous,  so  soon  as  the  signal  should  be  answered  by  Col. 
Thompson,  from  the  right  bank  of  the  river.  This  plan  was  arranged 
on  the  6th  of  January,  at  Pakenham's  head-quarters,  in  Mr.Vil- 
lere's  house,  and  on  that  day,  Epiphany,  the  three  generals  dined 
together.  One  of  the  guests  was  the  American  planter,  Dela- 
ronde,  Major-General  of  the  militia  of  his  parish,  who  had  visited 
the  English,  on  their  landing.  They  supposed  him  to  be  inimical 
to  the  American  government,  and  therefore  spoke  freely  before 
him,  and  drank  to  the  toast  of  "  Booty  and  Beauty,"  as  they  had 
heard  of  the  great  beauty  of  the  fair  Louisianians.  Delaronde 
returned  at  night  to  his  plantation,  and  at  daybreak  crossed  the 
river  in  a  canoe,  and  travelled,  most  of  the  way  on  foot,  to  the 
American  defences ;  he  reached  Jackson's  camp  about  1  o'clock, 
P.  M.,  and  told  the  whole  plan  to  the  general.  Jackson  instantly 
took  energetic  measures  for  stubborn  resistance.  The  position  of 
the  second  division  was  a  few  hundred  steps  behind  the  first.  Only 
a  few  of  these  men  were  armed..  My  friend,  Commodore  Patter- 
son, who  had  been  attending  Jackson's  council  of  war,  but  who  had 
returned  on  board  the  frigate  Louisiana,  came  to  me  about  four 


BATTLE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS.  221 

in  the  afternoon,  called  me  from  my  post,  and  shaking  hands  with 
me,  said,  "  I  expect  you  will  see  some  fun  between  this  and 
to-morrow." 

After  the  cannonade,  January  1,  night  service  in  the  defences 
was  trusted  to  half  companies  by  turns.  But  this  evening  Jackson 
ordered  the  entire  troops  to  lie  upon  their  arms.  A  little  before 
sunset  he  visited  the  whole  line,  looking  occasionally  at  a  musket 
to  see  if  it  were  loaded.  "  Don't  fire  till  you  see  the  whites  of 
their  eyes,  and  if  you  want  to  sleep,  sleep  upon  your  arms.'1 
Only  a  few  were  prepared  for  the  morrow's  tragedy,  among  whom 
was  myself,  thanks  to  Commodore  Patterson's  information.  A  little 
before  daybreak  two  rockets  were  sent  up  from  the  British  camp, 
the  meaning  of  which  not  many  understood.  Then  as  the  mist 
arose  we  saw  the  British  host  marching  slowly  towards  us  in  three 
columns.  The  first  company  of  the  middle  column  carried  storm- 
ing ladders  and  fascines,  with  muskets  slung  at  their  backs.  The 
redoubt  upon  the  highway  on  the  right  shore  was  first  reached 
by  the  little  division  commanded  by  Major  Rennie,  who  was  the 
first  to  mount  it,  sword  in  hand,  and  as  he  shouted  "  Come,  my 
boys,  the  day  is  ours !"  he  was  pierced  by  three  bullets,  and  met 
the  death  of  a  brave  gentleman.  It  was  about  half-past  8,  A.  M. 
Our  whole  line  kept  up  a  heavy  uninterrupted  fire,  and  as  there 
was  a  dead  calm  in  the  atmosphere  the  smoke  soon  formed  itself 
into  thick  clouds,  and  we  scarcely  saw  the  British  mounting  the 
redoubt  at  the  right.  On  the  left  wing  Jackson  had  posted  the 
best  of  the  Kentucky  riflemen,  lately  arrived,  under  General 
Adair,  the  same  who  had  been  arrested  in  1807  as  a  fellow  con- 
spirator of  Aaron  Burr's.  They  stood  in  five  close  lines,  kneel- 
ing to  load  and  rising  to  fire  ;  their  rifles  being  loaded  with  two 
or  three  buckshot  besides  the  ball.  The  heaviest  firing  was  of 
course  here.  The  Cyprieres  were  filled  with  riflemen,  who  were 
protected  by  the  thick  bushes,  and  dealt  death  from  behind  them 
to  the  British  platoons,  whose  officers  were  falling  fast  but  who  saw 
no  enemy.  The  whole  right  of  the  British  column  was  mowed 
down  by  these  invisible  riflemen,  and  their  front  was  exposed 
to  the  fire  of  both  our  batteries.  Now  and  then,  as  the  smoke 
rose  we  could  see  them  flying,  throwing  away  musket  and  fascine, 


222  DEFEAT  OF  THE  BRITISH. 

while  a  staff-officer,  mounted  on  a  black-charger,  strove  to  drive 
them  back  with  the  chapeau  which  he  held  in  his  hand.  At  last, 
riddled  by  bullets,  he  fell  backwards  from  his  horse  and  a  soldier 
caught  him  and  bore  him  away.  We  learned  in  the  evening  that 
it  was  General  Pakenham  in  person.  An  Irish  regiment,  the 
44th,  fled  with  its  colonel,  M.  Mullins,  at  the  head;  and  he  was 
afterwards  tried  by  court-martial  in  Havana,  and  cashiered 
for  cowardice.  Upon  the  left  wing,  as  1  have  already  re- 
marked at  the  commencement  of  this  description,  Major  Ren- 
nie  and  no  less  than  eighty  of  his  men  had  lost  their  lives,  in 
a  gallant  although  ineffectual  attempt  to  mount  the  redoubt. 
After  an  hour  at  least  had  elapsed,  the  firing  ceased — the  field  of 
slaughter  was  covered  with  the  bodies  of  British  soldiers,  lying 
either  dead  or  wounded.  I  called  it  the  field  of  slaughter ;  for  it 
really  was  slaughter,  and  not  battle  as  on  an  open  plain  where  foe 
meets  foe  ;  for  here  the  British  troops  were  perfectly  exposed  to 
the  deadly  and  accurate  bullets  of  our  riflemen ;  and  the  latter 
were  entirely  invisible,  being  not  only  protected  but  absolutely 
hidden  from  view,  either  by  the  thickets  of  undergrowth  and 
bushes  or  by  the  parapets  and  breastwork  of  the  entrenchments. 
In  the  distance  we  could  see  the  retreating  English  troops,  con- 
cealing themselves  behind  the  shrubbery,  or  throwing  themselves 
into  the  ditches  and  gullies.  In  some  of  the  latter  indeed  they 
lay  so  thickly  that  they  were  only  distinguishable  in  the  distance 
by  the  white  shoulder  belts,  which  formed  a  line  along  the  top  of 
their  hiding  place. 

About  two  o'clock  they  sent  a  flag  of  truce  demanding  time  to 
bury  the  dead  belonging  to  both  armies.  Jackson  sent  naval  lieu- 
tenant Crawley  with  the  proud  words  that  he  had  no  dead  to  bury, 
but  that  the  British  might  have  truce  until  the  next  forenoon. 
On  his  return  Mr.  Crawley  reported  that  Generals  Pakenham  and 
Gibbs  had  fallen;  that  General  Keane  was  dangerously  wounded, 
and  General  Lambert  was  now  Commander-in-chief.  The  British 
left  700  dead  upon  the  field,  and  had  as  many  wounded,  of  whom 
we  took  some  eighty  prisoners ;  six  hundred  more  had  thrown 
away  their  arms  and  fled.  I  was  present  for  a  while  when 
they  were  trying  to  recognize  the  bodies,  and  when  they  found 


A  TROPHY.  223 

that  of  Major  Whittaker  the  soldiers  burst  mto  tears,  saying, 
"  Ah,  poor  Major  Whittaker!  he  is  gone,  the  worthy  fellow."  The 
American  loss  was  but  9  killed  and  19  wounded,  a  scarcely  credi- 
ble number,  were  it  not  for  so  many  eyewitnesses,  and  for  the 
fact  that  the  Americans  were  all  hidden  behind  bushes  or  para- 
pets. 

The  Americans  in  war  are  peculiar.  In  Napoleon's  day,  the 
French  fought  for  the  "  glory  of  the  great  Nation."  Now,  per- 
haps, they  fight  for  "  the  glory  of  our  arms."  The  British  fight 
for  "king  and  country,"  or  "  God  and  country  ;"  but  the  Ameri- 
cans "  for  the  good  of  my  country."  After  the  peace,  an  officer 
in  this  war,  the  Marquis  of  Tweeddale,  who  was  taken  prisoner 
on  the  Canadian  frontier  and  brought  to  New  York,  said  to  me : 
"  I  hope  it  will  never  fall  to  my  lot  again  to  fight  Americans ; 
every  one  of  them  always  fights  his  own  individual  battle,  and 
is  a  most  dangerous  enemy." 

On  the  right  bank  matters  went  otherwise.  Col.  Thompson 
had  been  delayed  with  his  boats  by  the  sudden  falling  of  the 
river  in  the  night,  owing  to  the  cold  weather,  and  he  did  not 
reach  the  shore  until  the  fight  on  the  left  wing  was  over.  Before 
the  half  finished  defences  lay  about  one  thousand  unarmed  Ken- 
tuckians,  and  some  hundreds  of  undisciplined  militia  of  the  first 
regiment  of  New  Orleans,  under  their  Colonel,  a  grocer  named 
Dejean,  who  had  brought  the  flag  with  him,  and  had  it  in  his 
tent.  As  Thompson  appeared,  the  Kentuckians  ran  ;  the  militia 
followed,  and  forgot  their  flag,  which  now  hangs  among  the 
trophies  taken  by  Wellington  in  the  Peninsular  war,  in  the  Chapel 
of  Whitehall,  with  this  inscription  :  "  Taken  at  the  Battle  of  New 
Orleans,  8th  January,  1815."  Thompson,  who  saw  what  was 
going  on  in  the  left  wing,  returned  to  the  camp.  Jackson, 
Grymes  and  Davezac  remained  near  the  left  wing.  Durino- 
the  fight  the  others  were  invisible. 

After  the  military  council  of  the  7th,  Livingston  had  retired  to  the 
city  on  pretence  of  a  violent  colic,  I,  myself,  who  was  sergeant,  com- 
manding the  piquette,  had  the  honor  of  opening  the  barrier  for 
him.  There  he  remained  until  next  day,  in  his  dressing-goAvn, 
upon  the  balcony  of  his  house,  until  he  heard  of  Jackson's  sue- 


224  RETREAT  OF  THE  BRITISH. 

cess,  when  the  colic  left  him  and  he  re-appeared  in  the  camp. 
His  comrade,  Duncan,  who  quit  the  camp  at  daybreak  on  the  8th, 
to  look  for  reinforcements,  rode  about  the  streets  at  a  gallop  as 
long  as  the  fight  lasted,  crying  out,  "  Up !  up !  the  foe  is  upon 
us.  To  the  field  !  To  the  field  !"  All  active  people  were  in  the 
field.  A  corps  of  veterans,  many  of  whom  had  not  yet  seen 
thirty  years,  guarded  the  Bank  and  Arsenal.  My  heroic  antago- 
nist, Mr.  Cashier  Saul,  already  frequently  named  in  these  vol- 
umes, had,  as  the  story  goes,  for  the  truth  of  which  I  do  not  how- 
ever vouch,  the  greatest  possible  difficulty  in  restraining  his  war- 
like ardor.  Indeed  an  order,  obtained  by  his  friend  Duncan  from 
General  Jackson,  was  found  absolutely  necessary  to  keep  him  in 
town,  where  his  presence  was  essential  to  the  safety  of  the  Bank. 

I  would  not  have  spoken  of  these  casual  instances  of  cowardice, 
were  it  not  for  the  fact,  that  in  the  report  of  this  battle,  contained 
in  the  dispatches  of  General  Jackson  to  the  President  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  and  which  were  drawn  up  by  Livingston  himself,  the 
General  thanks  his  staff  and  his  military  and  volunteer  adjutants, 
for  their  cool  and  deliberate  bravery.  When  1  first  saw  this  para- 
graph, it  was  impossible  for  me  to  suppress  the  thought  of  what 
a  queer  look  Duncan  and  Livingston  must  have  exchanged,  when 
they  read  it  together — those  two  birds  of  a  feather — those  two 
scoundrels  who  played  so  well  into  each  other's  hands. 

For  eight  days  we  heard  no  more  of  the  British  army.  A 
scouting  party,  under  Adjutant  Grymes,  brought  word  that  they 
were  erecting  redoubts,  and  that  the  sugar-fields  were  full  of 
riflemen. 

Jackson  wanted  another  fight,  but  he  had  prudence  enough  to 
follow  Livingston's  patriotic  counsel.  "  What  do  you  want 
more,"  said  he  ;  "  your  object  is  gained — the  city  is  saved — the 
British  have  retired.  For  the  pleasure  of  a  blow  or  two,  will 
you  risk  against  those  fearless  troops  your  handful  of  men,  com- 
posed of  the  best  and  worthiest  citizens,  and  rob  so  many  fami- 
lies of  their  heads  !"  The  General  was  guided  by  this  remon- 
strance. On  the  16th  General  Lambert  sent  a  messenger  to  say 
that  the  British  army  was  about  to  re-embark  and  to  beg  kind 
treatment  for  eighty-four  wounded  left  behind.     One  of  these,  an 


RESULTS  OF  A  BATTLE.  225 

Irishman,  who  had  lost  both  legs,  rejoiced  over  ;t.  He  could  not 
live,  he  said,  on  the  pension  granted  for  the  loss  of  one 
limb,  but  having  fortunately  lost  both,  "I  shall  live  now," 
he  said,  "  like  a  prince."  Eighty  of  these  suffered  amputation 
in  our  City  Hospital,  and  not  one  died ;  while  of  eighty- 
one  British  prisoners,  who  suffered  the  same  operation,  not  one 
survived.  A  Mr.  Lawson,  brother-in-law  of  District  Judge 
Lewis,  and  belonging  to  our  corps,  lost  his  right  arm  and  died. 
When  this  was  announced  to  the  American  field-surgeon  Camp- 
bell, he  said :  "  Bad  luck  !  I  took  more  than  ordinary  pains  with 
him.  With  those  British  prisoners,  you  know  it  was  a  case  of 
plain  sailing,  a  right  to  cut  off." 

It  is  true  that  no  comparison  is  fair  between  the  British  sur- 
geons, educated  under  Wellington,  in  many  a  long  and  varied 
campaign,  and  the  improvised  American  surgeons,  who  were 
picked  up  wherever  they  could  be  found,  and  the  most  of  whom 
had  had  no  further  experience  than  that  which  they  had  obtained 
in  an  apothecary's  shoD. 

10* 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

RETURN  OF  OUR  SMALL  ARMY  INTO  THE  CITY. 

The  first  news  of  the  peace  concluded  at  Ghent,  December  24th,  1814 — Mar- 
tial law  in  New  Orleans — Jackson's  violent  measures — The  arbitrary  course 
pursued  by  him  toward  myself — Characteristic  traits — Source  of  his  hatred 
to  the  National  Bank — The  peace  rejoicings  in  the  city — -Present  to  Mrs. 
Jackson — Fitting  out  of  the  ship  Horatio — Renewal  of  my  quarrel  with 
Mr.  Shields — Effect  of  my  publication  of  the  correspondence  between  him 
and  myself — Another  and  unfortunate  duel  with  the  son  of  Mr.  Saul — Ar- 
rival of  intelligence  from  Paris,  announcing  Napoleon's  entry  into  that  cap- 
ital— Prudential  arrangements  in  relation  to  the  cargo  of  the  ship  Horatio, 
on  board  of  which  I  finally  embark. 

'  On  January  19,  Jackson  brought  back  our  little  army  to  the  city. 
A  Te  Deum  was  sung  in  the  cathedral,  at  the  doors  of  which  the 
most  prominent  of  the  Catholic  clergy  received  the  general,  and 
Madame  Livingston,  with  studied  enthusiasm,  did  herself  the  plea- 
sure of  setting  a  laurel  crown  upon  his  head,  which,  however,  the 
destroyer  of  Indians,  unused  to  similar  marks  of  honor,  somewhat 
unwillingly  put  away.  The  retreat  of  the  English  had  drawn  away 
many  negroes  from  the  sugar  plantations  of  C.  Macarty ,  Villere, 
Delaronde,  Lacoste,  and  others,  and  they  were  now  on  board  the 
fleet.  Jackson  sent  his  adjutant,  Livingston,  and  a  merchant,  by 
the  name  of  R.  D.  Shepherd,  to  Admiral  Cochrane,  to  demand 
the  slaves.  These  two  ambassadors  returned  from  the  fleet  early 
in  the  morning  of  January  21,  and  brought  to  General  Jackson 
the  official  news  of  the  treaty  which  had  been  concluded  on  the 
24th  December,  1814,  at  Ghent,  between  the  American  and  Eng- 
lish ministers.  The  English  commanders,  Cochrane  and  Paken- 
ham,  received  this  news  by  a  swift  frigate  in  twenty-three  days, 
with  orders  to  cease  all  hostilities,  and  to  return.     This  news  was, 


NEWS  OF  PEACE.  22? 

as  one  may  see,  official,  on  the  English  side,  but  Jackson  refused 
to  acknowledge  it  as  such  until  instructed  by  his  own  government  in 
Washington.  He  dared  not,  however,  doubt  much  about  it,  inas- 
much as  Cochrane,  who  had  informed  Livingston  of  his  instruc- 
tions, was  a  good  friend  of  the  adjutant.  They  had  been  ac- 
quaintances in  New  York,  and  Cochrane  had  taken  a  wife  from  the 
very  numerous  Livingston  family.  But  the  arbitrary  and  now 
utterly  unnecessary  martial  law,  which  had  never  for  one  moment 
been  needed  since  the  English  came  to  Louisiana,  pleased  Jackson 
eo  much  that  he  could  not  willingly  abrogate  it. 

Livingston  and  Shepherd  had  brought  from  the  fleet,  and  given 
to  Cotten,  editor  of  the  Louisiana  Gazette,  Lord  Bathurst's  (then 
Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs)  official  announcement  to  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London,  which  contained  a  copy  of  the  preliminary  ar- 
ticles settled  at  Ghent.  Cotten  at  once  printed,  and  put  into  cir- 
culation, handbills  containing  the  following : — 

"  A  truce-boat  from  Admiral  Cochrane,  commander  of  the  Eng- 
lish fleet,  has  just  brought  to  General  Jackson,  official  news  of  a 
treaty  concluded  at  Ghent,  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  and  the  request  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities." 

The  next  day  the  editor  received  the  following  order  from 
head-quarters : — 

"  Sir  : — It  is  expected  that  you  will  give  immediate  publicity 
to  the  enclosed,  by  printing  it  in  handbills,  as  you  have  printed 
that  which  this  is  meant  to  counteract,  and  also  by  inserting  it  in 
your  next  paper.  JOHN  KEEP,  Aid-de-Camp. 

" Mr.  Cotten,  Editor  Louisiana  Gazette" 


"  Head-  Quarters  Kth  Military  District, ) 
New  Orleans,  February  21,  1815.   j 
"  Sir  : — As  the  commander-in-chief  has  been  informed  of  the 
announcement  which  has  appeared  in  your  paper,  as  follows — 
*  A  truce-boat  from  Admiral  Cochrane,  commander  of  the  Eng- 
lish fleet,  has  just  brought  to  General  Jackson,  official  news  of  a 


228  MARTIAL  LAW  IN  NEW  ORLEANS. 

treaty  concluded  at  Ghent,  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  and  the  request  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities' — he  requests 
that  you  will  hasten  to  destroy  every  copy  of  so  unauthorized  and 
improper  a  notice.  No  direct  or  practical  request  for  a  truce  has 
been  received  from  the  commanders  of  the  British  land  and  sea 
forces. 

"  The  letter  from  Bathurst  to  the  Lord  Mayor,  which  contains 
the  only  official  news  as  yet  received,  by  no  means  declares  that 
such  truce  is  to  take  place,  until  the  treaty  be  signed  by  the  Com- 
missioners, and  ratified  by  the  Prince  Regent  and  the  President 
of  the  United  States. 

[Here  the  letter  adduces  some  common  arguments,  and  closes 
as  follows]  : — 

"  It  is  expected,  that  in  future  no  kind  of  publication,  which  re- 
sembles the  foregoing  and  blamable  one,  will  be  made,  until  the 
editor  shall  be  convinced  of  its  correctness,  and  shall  be  permitted, 
by  the  proper  authority,  to  publish  it  in  his  sheet. 

"JOHN  REED,  Aid-de-Camp. 

*' Mr.  Cotten,  Editor  Louisiana  Gazette" 

When  this  letter  was  given  to  the  editor  he  was  officially  in 
formed,  that  New  Orleans  existed  only  as  a  battle-field,  and  that 
the  word  of  the  commander-in-chief  was  the  only  law.  It  is  clear 
that  the  even  momentary  resignation  of  his  command,  of  which 
some  ignorant  chroniclers  have  spoken,  was  not  even  thought  of 
by  the  general.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  at  this  time  that  Jackson 
ordered,  that  the  city  of  New  Orleans  and  all  its  environs,  from 
the  frontier  line,  two  miles  up,  to  the  encampment,  seven  miles 
below,  upon  the  river,  should  be  considered  as  his  camp,  and  that 
none  might  claim  authority  within  its  limits — he  being  the  only 
commander.  The  late  William  C.  Claiborne,  who  alone  would 
have  opposed  this,  was  so  frightened,  that  he  did  not  dare  raise 
his  voice,  nor  do  his  duty  ;  but,  in  the  most  fainthearted  way,  left 
the  civil  authority  to  take  care  of  itself. 

When  Jackson  brought  back  our  little  army  into  the  city,  he 


ARREST 'OF  JUDGE  HALL  229 

left  a  few  men  behind  him  in  the  intrenchments.  He  had  chosen 
them  out  of  those  militia  whom  he  had  forcibly  taken  out  of  the 
taverns,  where  they  were  staying  as  travelling  strangers,  in  order 
to  punish  them,  he  said,  for  having  spoken  so  fiercely  against  the 
military  service.  Among  them  were  many  Frenchmen,  who 
were  not  even  citizens,  and  who  were  torn  from  their  daily  busi- 
ness, their  wives,  and  their  families.  An  appeal  was  made  in 
writing  to  the  French  Consul,  Toussard,  who  waited  upon  General 
Jackson,  and  notified  him  that  he  had  received  orders,  from  the 
Minister  at  Washington,  to  extend  his  protection  over  the  French 
subjects.  The  consul  also  asked,  whether  he  might  communicate 
with  the  Frenchmen  then  in  the  intrenchments,  and  free  them 
from  this  military  service.  The  general  said  yes,  and  Colonel 
Toussard  immediately  had  his  requisition  printed.  There  were 
forty  men  in  all.  Then  Jackson  arrested  Colonel  Toussard,  with 
the  forty  Frenchmen ;  and,  forty  days  after  the  news  of  peace  had 
been  received,  on  the  fifth  of  March,  sent  them,  not  only  out  of 
the  limits  of  the  camp,  but  off  to  the  interior  plantations,  not 
nearer  than  Baton  Rouge. 

The  deputy,  Louaillier,  a  native  Frenchman,  but  naturalized  in 
America,  and  member  of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  published 
a  letter  in  the  Journals,  in  which  he  remarked  upon  this  high- 
handed measure  of  General  Jackson's,  that  the  permission  and 
safe-guard  given  to  Col.  Toussard  was  in  direct  opposition  to  this 
arbitrary  step  :  "  For,"  "  said  he,  "  if  the  general  were  not  con- 
tent to  allow  the  Frenchmen  to  be  released,  why  did  he  empower 
the  French  consul  to  make  a  requisition  for  his  countrymen,  or 
even  to  visit  them ;  or  with  what  motive  did  he  himself,  sign  the 
certificate  of  release."  This  argument  did  not  trouble  the  general ; 
he  simply  arrested  Louaillier  and  confined  him  in  the  barracks, 
to  be  tried  for  exciting  mutiny  in  the  camp,  by  a  court-martial. 
Mr.  A.  Hall,  Judge  of  the  U.  S.  District  Court,  a  fearless  man, 
immediately  issued  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  liberate  the  person 
of  M.  Louaillier.  This  was  his  duty  as  highest  judicial  officer  in 
the  State.  The  general  at  once  arrested  Judge  Hall,  and  sent 
him  outside  of  the  camp  lines,  into  the  country,  with  the  notifica- 
tion that  his  authority  was  at  an  end.     All  this,  as   has  been 


230  ARREST  OF  HOLLANDER. 

already  said,  occurred  six  weeks  after  reception  of  the  news  of 
the  treaty  at  Ghent,  which  no  one  in  the  city  for  an  instant 
doubted  to  be  true,  simply  to  gratify  a  lust  for  despotic  power, 
and  without  one  word  of  remonstrance  from  the  mouth  of  the 
man  who  knew  the  Codex  of  the  United  States  better  than  any 
other  person, — Edward  Livingston. 

At  the  end  of  Jackson's  proclamation  of  March  5,  1815,  were 
these  words : — "  All  and  every  officer  and  soldier  is  hereby 
strictly  commanded  to  give  the  earliest  possible  information 
about  all  mutinies,  or  contemplated  mutinies,  all  inducements  to 
desert,  or  attempts  to  desert  or  to  mutiny ;  and  to  arrest  all 
persons  implicated  therein,  that  they  may  be  brought  to  court- 
martial." 

This  command  concerned  only  the  officers  and  soldiers.  But  I 
must  tell  at  least  one  anecdote  in  proof  of  the  entire  submission 
of  the  general's  satellites  to  his  will.  My  partner,  Mr.  Hollander, 
was  at  the  door  of  the  Bank  Coffee-House,  conversing  about 
Louaillier's  letter,  and  praising  it,  and  its  writer's  courage. 
"  Why,"  said  he,  "  did  General  Jackson  allow  Col.  Toussard  to 
print  his  requisition  in  the  Journals,  when  he  had  no  intention 
to  free  the  Frenchmen  from  military  service  ?"  "  Ah,"  replied  a 
bystander,  "  his  only  idea  was  to  find  out  all  who  were  disposed 
to  side  with  the  consul,  in  order  that  he  might  punish  them." 
"  It  was  a  dirty  trick,"  said  Hollander.  This  answer  was  carried 
to  the  general,  who  immediately  »  rdered  the  arrest  and  trial  of 
Hollander,  because,  "  he  excited  insubordination  and  mutiny  in 
the  camp,  and  talked  disrespectfully  of  his  superior  officer."  Just 
as  Hollander  and  I  were  dining  together  on  the  next  day,  my 
house  was  surrounded  by  a  hundred  men,  and  Major  Davezac, — 
so  often  mentioned, — with  squinting  eye  and  golden  epaulettes, 
stalked  in  to  arrest  and  carry  off  Hollander.  I  went  at  once  to 
Adjutant  Livingston,  to  procure  the  liberation  of  my  friend,  and 
he  persuaded  the  general  to  accept  my  bail  for  $2,000,  for 
the  future  appearance  of  Hollander,  before  the  court-martial. 
Livingston  himself  drew  up  the  bond,  and  no  man  in  the  United 
States  knew  how  to  do  it  better,  so  that  the  sum  mentioned  never 
could  be  demanded  by  law  from  the  bailer.     A  couple  of  days 


JACKSON'S  FINE.  231 

later  a  council  of  war  was  called.  Hollander  was  present,  and 
Davezac,  as  representative  of  the  general,  was  accuser ;  but  the 
next  day,  March  13,  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent 
arrived,  and  put  an  end  to  the  farce.  Jackson  issued  a  proclama- 
tion, pardoned  Judge  Hall,  Louaillier,  Hollander,  and  all  others 
who  had  interfered  with  his  authority,  and  so  laid  down  his 
power.  But  he  ruled  with  arbitrary  and  despotic  power  for  fifty 
days  after  there  was  the  slightest  use  or  necessity  for  martial 
law  at  all. 

This  was  scarcely  ended  when  sixty  of  the  citizens  united  to 
form  a  cavalcade,  which  should  escort  Judge  Hall  publicly,  from 
his  place  of  exile  to  the  court-house.  Of  all  the  lawyers  in  the 
city,  Livingston,  Duncan,  Hennius,  and  others,  only  one,  Mr. 
Grymes,  joined  this  manifestation,  and  he  marched  at  the  head  of 
the  troop,  although  he  too,  had  been  an  adjutant  of  the  general, 
and  although  Hall  had  determined  on  the  re-opening  of  his  court 
to  cite  Jackson  to  appear  and  answer  the  charges  of  interference 
with  civil  authority,  and  contempt  of  court  and  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus.  This  happened  immediately.  Jackson  appeared  and 
was  fined  $1,000,  which  he  paid  in  one  bank  note ;  then  bowed  to 
the  Judge,  and  left  the  court.  He  found  at  the  threshold 
Davezac  with  his  friends,  Dominique,  Beluche,  and  the  whole 
band  of  liberated  pirates,  fifty  in  number.  They  lifted  the 
general  upon  their  shoulders  and  bore  him  triumphantly  to  the 
Exchange  Coffee-House.  American  citizens  blushed  to  see  this 
procession,  and  the  general  himself  seemed  to  dislike  it,  and  to 
find  himself  as  uncomfortable  as  Madame  Livingston's  laurel 
crown  had  made  him  at  the  church  door.  By  the  suggestion  of 
lawyer  Duncan,  his  nephew,  Nicholson,  an  understrapper  in  Hall's 
court,  carried  a  subscription  list  about  the  town  the  next  day  to 
make  up  the  amount  of  the  general's  fine  ;  and  in  order  to  make 
the  subscription  appear  to  be  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  citizens, 
in  condemnation  of  the  fine,  it  was  resolved  that  no  man  should 
subscribe  more  than  one  dollar.  The  collector  started,  and  out 
of  the  necessary  $1,000,  he  succeeded  in  accumulating  $160. 
My  captain,  Roche,  who  commanded  the  battalion  of  New 
Orleans  Carabineers,  to  whom  I  belonged,  was  visited  by  young 


232  JACKSON'S  DIOTATORIALNESS. 

Nicholson.  "  If  the  general,"  replied  the  gentleman  ,  "  is  in  need 
of  money  I  will  lend  him  willingly,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  but  I 
will  not  give  a  sixpence  for  such  a  farce  as  this."  Nicholson 
assured  him  that  it  was  not  his  dollar  but  his  signature  that  was 
wanted. 

There  was  a  certain  peculiar  might  of  will  in  Jackson's  charac- 
ter and  dictatorialness  that  had  become  a  second  nature  in  him, 
and  to  convince  him  of  the  injustice  of  any  act  contemplated  or 
performed  by  him,  was  impossible.  The  two  examples  following 
will  prove  this  :- — 

Marched  out  from  the  city  on  December  16,  I  had  quitted  the 
camp  but  once.  On  this  occasion  I  learned  from  my  housekeeper 
that  during  my  absence,  a  military  command  had  come  to  my 
house,  where  the  officer  peremptorily  demanded  the  key  of  the 
warehouses.  Hereupon,  they  seized  all  the  woollen  goods  that  I 
had  brought  from  Pensacola,  and  carried  them  off,  leaving  me  a 
receipt  therefor.  This  receipt  was  signed  by  a  name  that  I  had 
never  heard  of,  belonging  to  the  Tennessee  sharp-shooters.  It 
was  for  the  clothing  of  these  sharp-shooters  that  they  had  taken 
the  woollen  goods.  Immediately  after  the  retreat  of  the  English, 
Jackson  had  named  a  commission,  consisting  of  his  quarter- 
masters and  two  merchants,  who  were  looked  to  for  the  provision 
of  the  army,  and  to  whom  all  who  had  had  any  property  taken 
away,  were  to  complain.  My  claim  was  a  double  one,  first,  for 
750  woollen  coverings,  taken  out  of  my  warerooms ;  second,  for 
250  bales  of  cotton  taken  from  the  brigantine  Pallas.  For  the  first 
I  received  the  price  that  was  current  on  the  day  that  the  landing  of 
the  English  was  announced,  $11  per  pair.  All  settlements  required 
the  general's  ratification  and  signature.  On  this  occasion  he  gave 
both,  but  with  the  remark  that,  as  my  goods  had  been  taken  to 
cover  the  Tennessee  troops,  I  should  be  paid  in  Tennessee  bank 
notes,  upon  which  there  was  a  discount  of  nearly  10  per  cent. 
I  was  silent.  With  regard  to  the  claim  for  the  250  bales  which 
had  been  used  for  fortifications,  I  produced  my  books.  Two  years 
before  they  had  been  purchased  from  the  richest  cotton  planter, 
Poydras,  at  1 0  cents.  The  price  meanwhile,  had  never  been  less 
than  10  to  11  cents,  and  the  day  before  we  received  the  news  of 


INSTANCES  IN  MY  CASE.  233 

their  seizure,  I  had  bought  two  small  lots  at  11 J  and  12  cents. 
Interest  for  two  years  at  5  per  cent,  and  storage  had  been  added 
to  my  claim.  On  the  day  of  our  march  from  the  city,  just  as  I 
had  put  on  my  uniform  and  taken  my  musket,  a  broker  ran  after 
me  to  offer  me  a  lot  which  must  be  sold  that  day,  because  the 
owner  feared  that  they  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  English. 
"  Offer  something,  Mr.  Nolte,"  said  the  broker.  I  had  not  the 
heart  to  offer  50  per  cent,  lower  than  the  price,  and  therefore, 
offered  7  cents,  more  with  the  view  of  getting  rid  of  the  broker 
than  of  speculating.  In  a  few  moments  he  came  back,  notes  in 
hand,  and  said,  "  Mr.  Nolte,  the  cotton  is  yours."  There  was 
no  time  to  deliver  it,  however,  for  we  were  obliged  to  march. 
This  little  affair  was  spoken  of  at  Jackson's  head-quarters,  as  a 
proof  of  my  trust  in  a  fortunate  result  of  the  hostilities.  When 
the  commission  laid  my  claim  before  the  general,  he  said  that  the 
price  was  too  high  ;  that  I  must  be  paid  at  the  price  on  the  day 
of  the  march  from  the  city.  I  made  a  Written  protest  but  the 
general  would  not  notice  it  Then  I  determined  to  call  on  him 
in  the  hopes  of  awakening  a  sense  of  justice  in  him.  He  heard 
me  but  that  was  all.  "  Are  you  not  lucky,"  he  asked,  "  to  have 
saved  the  rest  of  your  cotton  by  my  defence1?"  "Certainly, 
general,"  I  said,  "  as  lucky  as  any  body  else  in  the  city  whose 
cotton  has  been  thus  saved.  But  the  difference  between  me  and 
the  rest  is,  that  all  the  others  have  nothing  to  pay  and  that  I  have 
to  bear  all  the  loss."  "  Loss,"  said  the  general,  getting  excited, 
"  why,  you  have  saved  all."  I  saw  that  argument  was  useless 
with  so  stiff-necked  a  man,  and  remarked  to  him  that  I  only 
wanted  compensation  for  my  cotton,  and  that  the  best  compensa- 
tion would  be  to  give  me  precisely  the  quantity  that  had  been 
taken  from  me,  and  of  the  same  quality ;  that  he  might  name 
one  merchant  and  I  another,  who  should  buy  and  deliver  to  me 
the  cotton ;  and  that  he  should  pay  the  bill.  "  No,  no,  sir,"  he 
answered,  "  I  like  straight-forward  business,  and  this  is  too  com- 
plicated. You  must  take  6  cents  for  your  cotton.  I  have 
nothing  more  to  say."  As  I  again  endeavored  to  explain,  he  said, 
"  Come  sir,  come,  take  a  glass  of  whisky  and  water,  you  must 
be  d — d  dry  after  all  your  arguing."     For  me  there  remained 


234  MILITARY  CERTIFICATE. 

nothing  but  to  say  :  "  Well  general,  I  did  not  expect  such  injustice 
at  your  hands.  Good  morning,  sir,"  and  so  to  go  away.  Three 
days  after,  came  the  news  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  and  cotton  rose 
at  once  to  16  cents,  at  which  price  I  bought  several  lots.  The 
commission  for  the  regulation  of  claims  for  loss  and  damages 
were  rather  embarrassed  now  to  offer  me  6  cents.  Finally,  I 
was  asked  by  a  member  of  the  commission,  Mr.  W.  W.  Mont- 
gomery, whether  I  would  be  content  if  they  would  pay  me  my 
claim,  as  presented.  I  consented,  because  I  would  have  been 
obliged  to  complain  to  Congress,  at  Washington  ;  and  the  affair 
might  have  dragged  on  for  years. 

The  time  had  now  arrived  when  I  could  quit  my  battalion.  I 
got  permission  to  do  so,  and  received  the  following  certificate 
from  my  commanding  officer. 

Battalion  of  Uniform  Companies  of  the  N.  0.  Militia,  | 
Company  of  Grenadiers.  ) 
The  undersigned  Captain,  commanding  the  above  named 
Grenadiers,  certifies  that  Mr.  Vincent  Nolte,  grenadier  of  the 
said  company,  made  as  such  the  campaign  against  the  English ; 
that  he  performed  all  the  duties  of  his  service  without  omission 
from  Dec.  16,  1814,  until  this  day  :  that  he  took  part  in  the 
affairs  of  23d  and  28th  Dec,  1814,  of  the  1st  and  8th  January, 
1815,  and  that  he  conducted  himself  as  a  brave  and  loyal  soldier, 
and  to  the  contentment  of  his  superiors  and  his  comrades.  This 
I  have  signed  with  my  own  hand  to  be  used  as  he  shall  find  it 
necessary. 

New  Orleans,  April  kih,  1815. 

[Signed,]  ±>ETER  ROCHE. 

The  undersigned,  commander  of  the  Uniformed  Battalion  of 

New  Orleans  Militia,  certifies  to  the  authenticity  of  the  signature 

of  Captain  Roche,  while  he  adds  that  the  excellence  with  which  the 

said  Vincent  Nolte  performed  his  duty  is  personally  known  by  him. 

New  Orleans,  April  4lh,  1815. 

[Signed,]  J.  B.  PLANCHE,  Major. 

Approved,    ANDREW  JACKSON, 

Major  General  and  Comma nder-in  Chief. 


THE  TWO  ENGLISHMEN.  235 

I  may  be  allowed  a  few  further  remarks  on  Jackson's  character, 
that  man  so  much  more  fortunate  than  naturally  distinguished, 
because  I  had  so  many  opportunities  of  observing  him  nearly,  so 
that  in  my  early  observations  I  easily  found  the  key  to  many 
actions  of  his  public  life,  especially  while  he  was  President. 
That  great  student  of  men,  Chamfort,  who  ordinarily  far  surpasses 
the  philosophic  de  la  Rochefoucault  in  his  remarks,  says,  "  In 
great  matters  men  show  themselves,  as  they  wish  to  be  seen,  in 
small  matters,  as  they  are."  Correct  as  is  the  maxim  in  general, 
Jackson's  manner  of  dealing  is  an  exception  to  the  rule,  and  only 
in  one  instance  can  it  be  applied  to  him.  It  is  true,  that  I  refer  to 
what  was  in  his  eyes  a  great  matter,  his  elevation  to  the  Presidency. 
On  this  occasion  it  was  his  object  to  play  the  part  of  a  quiet, 
peaceful,  unpretending  man ;  a  part  which  required  the  greatest 
self-control,  and  power  of  will.  While  the  necessity  lasted  he 
ruled  himself  with  remarkable  power ;  but  so  soon  as  it  was  over, 
his  character  of  unbridled  despotism  resumed  its  freedom,  and 
never  bowed  again.  In  this  work  will  be  seen  many  an  instance 
of  his  self-restraint  and  self-control :  it  was  not  a  courageous  will, 
but  fierce  despotic  power  which  he  exhibited  when  the  foe  had 
retreated  from  New  Orleans ;  which,  after  the  news  of  the  treaty 
of  Ghent  had  arrived,  still  made  him  refuse  all  constitutional 
rights  to  the  citizens  without  necessity,  without  benefit  to  the 
city  ;  imprisoning  some,  exiling  others,  putting  the  whole  city 
under  strict  and  causeless  martial-law.  He  saw  the  citizens  only 
through  the  colored  glasses  of  his  partisans,  who,  like  Livingston, 
could  not  let  slip  this  opportunity  of  taking  vengeance  on  their 
enemies — and  therefore,  in  this  he  may  be  excused.  But  his 
barbarous  course  in  the  destructive  Seminole  war,  towards  those 
independent  Indians,  who  were  not  rebels,  and  towards  the  two 
Englishmen,  Arbuthnot  and  Armbrister,  of  Nassau,  Bahama  Is- 
lands— because  they  carried  on,  without  unfriendly  feelings  towards 
Americans,  a  harmless  trade  with  the  Indians,  in  all  sorts  of  goods, 
among  which  were  powder,  lead,  fowling-pieces,  and  rifles — proved 
how  much  he  thought  himself  above  the  law  on  all  occasions.  In 
time  of  peace  with  England,  he  had  these  two  men  tried,  with  orders 
to  hang  them      The  commission  appointed,  asserted  their  incom- 


236  THE  BANK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

petency,  and  refused.  Jackson  then  named  another  commission, 
and  as  commanding  general,  ordered  them  to  do  their  duty  and 
hang  those  seditious  men.  They  obeyed,  but  recommended  both 
to  the  mercy  of  the  general,  who  must  have  been  convinced  of 
their  innocence, — they  were  dealers  in  old  clothes,  or  slop-shop 
keepers.  Above  all,  it  was  desired  to  refer  the  matter  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  as  this  was  a  duty  belonging 
to  higher  authority  than  theirs,  and  as  such  reference  was 
usual.  But  Jackson  would  not  hear  of  it ;  they  must  die  in- 
stantly, and  without  further  loss  of  time,  one  was  hanged,  and 
the  other  shot. 

The  destruction  of  the  National  Bank, — not  the  Pennsylvanian 
United  States'  Bank,  but  the  first  that  was  so-called, — and  the 
withdrawal  of  the  government  deposits  from  it,  belonged  to  the 
most  absolute,  and  fury-dictated  of  Jackson's  measures,  and 
opened  the  way  for  the  ruin  of  the  whole  bank  and  finance  system 
in  the  United  States.  There  have  been  people  who  have  found 
plausible  excuses,  both  by  word  and  pen,  for  this  bit  of  despotism. 
The  pretence  was  to  destroy  the  power  of  money  in  elections,  and 
put  an  end  to  foreign  influence,  which  depended  upon  such  power. 
But  the  true  cause,  the  original  source  of  the  persecution  against 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  was  the  personal  hatred  of  Jackson 
for  its  president,  Nicholas  Biddle,  who  afterwards  won  so  un- 
fortunate a  celebrity,  and  of  whom  we  will  speak  on  another 
occasion.  All  that  followed  was  but  the  result  of  Jackson's  first 
and  fast  resolve  to  crush  the  bank  and  Biddle's  influence  at  any 
price  ;  and  the  following  simple  occurrence  gave  free  course  to  this 
obstinate  determination,  which  was  so  terrible  in  its  consequences. 
The  Globe,  a  Washington  paper,  stood  in  the  first  rank  of  those 
who  were  in  the  general's  interests,  who  defended  his  politics,  and 
knew  how  to  put  a  good  face  on  his  blunders.  None  could  so 
pleasantly  flatter  Jackson  and  his  cabinet  as  the  editor  of  this 
journal.  He  blew  the  general's  trumpet  much  as  Granier  de 
Cassagnac  blows  Louis  Napoleon's  now.  Not  having  made 
much  by  this  for  some  years,  he  determined  to  remove  to  New 
York,  and  publish  his  journal  there.  He  soon  turned  his  coat, 
and  began  to  abuse  and  blame  the  general  as  much  as  he  had 


JACKSON'S  VETOES.  237 

praised  him.  Thoroughly  acquainted  with  Jackson's  views  and 
sentiments,  it  was  the  delight  of  the  editor  to  stir  up  the  general's 
gall  by  a  light,  short  article,  which  presented  no  points  for  an 
answer.  Jackson  raged  in  quiet  until  an  opportunity  for  ven- 
geance upon  the  turn-coat  came.  The  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
at  Philadelphia,  was  then  a  government  bank,  not  like  Biddle's 
bank  later,  the  private  Bank  of  Pennsylvania.  A  quarter  of  the 
capital  belonged  to  the  government,  and  one  fourth  of  the 
directors  were  appointed  by  it,  the  others  being  elected  by  the 
directors.  Besides  the  government  directors,  a  commission  was 
occasionally  sent  from  the  treasury  department  to  overlook  the 
accounts.  This  commission  discovered  that  among  the  discounted 
paper,  there  was  a  note  of  the  editor  of  the  Globe  for  $20,000, 
bearing  Biddle's  indorsement,  and  by  his  influence  renewed  from 
time  to  time.  As  the  aforesaid  editor's  credit  was  by  no  means 
in  a  condition  to  explain  this,  it  was  evident  that  the  whole  favor 
was  a  consequence  of  Biddle's  indorsement.  This  was  a  ray  of 
light  to  Jackson.  From  that  moment  he  resolved  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  bank,  and  did  all  in  his  power  to  prevent  a  renewal  of 
its  Act  of  Incorporation.  Twice  it  received  the  assent  of  Con- 
gress, and  twice  did  Jackson  Veto  it.  To  carry  the  measure,  a 
two-third  vote  was  necessary.  But  as  Jackson's  influence  was  on 
the  increase,  this  necessary  majority  could  not  be  obtained.  The 
bank  fell,  and  with  it  the  dam  which  divided  the  good  from  the 
bad  paper  in  circulation,  through  the  United  States.  Biddle's 
views  were  not  then  evident,  and  his  motive  for  not  allowing  the 
destruction  of  the  Globe  man,  had  an  object  which  was  not 
against  the  interest  of  the  state,  and  which  should  not  have  called 
down  the  unlimited  wrath  of  the  general,  which  produced  the 
common  shipwreck  of  the  whole  money  system,  and  of  the  credit 
of  the  country. 

The  spectacle  which  the  city  of  New  Orleans  offered  when  no 
further  doubt  remained  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  was  a  remarkable 
one.  At  the  head  of  the  party  then  forming,  with  a  view  to  make 
Jackson  president,  stood  naturally,  Edward  Livingston.  He  had 
expressed  a  wish  to  see  the  general  in  the  chair,  and  in  fulfilment 
of  the  wish,  he  built  his  hope  of  restoration  of  his  own  broken 


238  THE  GREAT  BALL  AT  NEW  ORLEANS. 

credit  and  fortune.  He  was  joined  by  A.  L.  Duncan,  a  lawyer, 
learned  and  eloquent,  but  who  was  the  soul  and  representative  of 
all  American  popular  intrigues.  Then  followed  all  those  who 
hoped  sooner  or  later  for  a  good  fat  office  under  the  Jacksonian 
administration, — as  for  instance,  District  Marshal,  Duplessis, 
who  wanted  the  Collectorship,  and  P.  K.  Wagner,  editor  of  the 
N.  O.  Gazette,  who  wished  to  be  Naval  Officer.  A  few  Creoles 
closed  the  list.  The  influence  which  Governor  Claiborne  once 
had  over  these  latter,  was  evidently  decreasing ;  he  hated  Jack- 
son as  he  hated  every  rival,  but  on  this  occasion  he  did  not  show 
his  ill-will,  but  was  first  in  all  the  demonstrations  of  welcome  and 
honor  that  greeted  the  victorious  general.  The  most  prominent 
citizens  united  to  give  the  general  a  grand  ball  in  the  French  Ex- 
change, which  would  have  to  remain  closed  for  three  days,  in 
order  to  give  opportunity  for  the  necessary  preparations.  Al- 
ready were  men  intriguing  for  the  honor  of  a  place  in  the  ball 
committee :  the  treasurer  Saul,  for  instance.  Some  held  that 
none  but  natives  should  be  chosen ;  finally,  however,  the  two 
first  chosen,  Major  D.  Carmick  and  Commodore  Patterson,  both 
great  friends  of  mine,  declared  that  they  could  not  get  along 
without  me,  and  to  this  circumstance,  in  connection  with  the  fact 
that  I  had  seen  more  great  festivities  than  any  other  man  in  New 
Orleans,  was  I  indebted  for  my  nomination  on  the  ball  committee. 
The  upper  part  of  the  Exchange  was  arranged  for  dancing,  and 
the  under  part  for  supper,  with  flowers,  colored  lamps,  and 
transparencies  with  inscriptions.  Before  supper,  Jackson  desired 
to  look  at  the  arrangements  unaccompanied,  and  I  was  appointed 
to  conduct  him.  One  of  the  transparencies  between  the  arcades 
bore  the  inscription,  "  Jackson  and  Victory  :  they  are  but  one." 
The  general  looked  at  it,  and  turned  about  to  me  in  a  hail-fellow 
sort  of  way,  saying,  "  Why  did  you  not  write  '  Hickory  and 
Victory  :  they  are  but  one.' "  After  supper  we  were  treated  to  a 
most  delicious  pas  de  deux  by  the  conqueror  and  his  spouse,  an 
emigrant  of  the  lower  classes,  whom  he  had  from  a  Georgian 
planter,  and  who  explained  by  her  enormous  corpulence  that 
French  saying,  "  She  shows  how  far  the  skin  can  be  stretched." 
To  see  these  two  figures,  the  general  a  long,  haggard  man,  with 


DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  FRENCHMEN.  239 

limbs  like  a  skeleton,  and  Madame  la  Generale,  a  short,  fat 
dumpling,  bobbing  opposite  each  other  like  half-drunken  Indians, 
to  the  wild  melody  of  Possum  up  de  Gum  Tree,  and  endeavoring 
to  make  a  spring  into  the  air,  was  very  remarkable,  and  far  more 
edifying  a  spectacle  than  any  European  ballet  could  possibly  have 
furnished. 

Certain  ladies  of  the  city,  unrecognized  by  either  the  American 
or  French  population,  had  determined  to  present  Mrs.  Jackson 
with  jewels  to  the  value  of  $4,000,  which  sum  was  to  be  made  up 
by  private  subscriptions. 

First,  came  the  wife  of  Benjamin  Morgan,  President  of  the 
Bank  of  New  Orleans.  This  lady  headed  the  subscription  list 
with  $500.  Some  others  followed,  but  scarce  $1,600  had  been 
raised  when  the  jewels  were  purchased  and  presented.  It  was, 
however,  found  to  be  exceedingly  difficult  to  accumulate  the 
other  $2,400,  a  difficulty,  however,  which  they  managed  to 
conceal. 

Some  of  the  French  settlers  in  New  Orleans  had  long 
waited  for  the  moment,  to  return  with  what  fortune  they  had 
gained  to  France.  The  breaking  out  of  the  war  had  hindered 
this. 

Among  others,  a  Provencal,  by  the  name  of  Fournier,  who 
had  once  served  in  Egypt  under  Napoleon,  and  who  had  been  a 
porcelain  Fayence  and  glass-ware  dealer  in  New  Orleans,  had 
gained  large  sums.  He  had  sold  his  warehouses,  had  sent  his 
capital  to  France,  and  was  about  to  follow  them  when  the  English 
appeared.  Then  he  at  once  entered  our  company,  saying  to  me, 
"  Ah,  je  serai  Men  aise  de  leur  tirer  encore  une  fois  mon  coup  de 
fusil — ces  matins  d" Anglais."  He  wore  his  French  cockade,  not 
on,  but  in  his  bearskin  shako. 

Two  other  Frenchmen,  the  first  a  dentist,  named  Robelot, 
and  the  second  a  little  pitiful  lawyer,  called  Paillette,  who 
had  gained  something,  not  by  their  practice,  but  by  long 
years  of  usury,  disappeared  during  the  English  invasion,  but 
turned  up  again  immediately  on  the  cessation  of  hostilities, 
ready   to  go    to   France  with   the   product   of  their   industry 


240  RENEWAL  OF  PERSONAL  HOSTILITIES. 

Their  capital,  as  no  exchanges  were  to  be  had,  was  invested  in  cot- 
ton, which  had  cost  some  twelve  cents  a  pound.  During  the  war 
there  were  no  ships  in  port ;  and  although  it  was  to  be  expected 
that  merchant  ships  would  now  come  in  such  numbers  as  to  make 
freights  very  low,  yet  the  two  men  were  in  such  extreme  haste, 
that  they  freighted  two  old  unseaworthy  ships  for  Havre,  at  the 
rate  of  seven  and  a  half  to  eight  cents  on  the  pound  of  cotton. 
The  ship  Oliver  Ellsworth  carried  out  800  bales  of  cotton,  which 
had  cost  $38,000,  and  the  freight  amounted  to  $26,880,  about 
three  times  the  entire  value  of  the  vessel. 

In  the  second  year  of  the  war,  the  900  tons  burthen,  new,  cop- 
per-bottomed, English  West  India  ship,  Lord  Nelson,  was  taken 
by  the  American  privateer  Saratoga,  and  brought  into  New  Or 
leans.  This  vessel,  which  must  have  cost  from  £16,000  to  £18,000, 
was  sold  at  public  auction,  and  was  purchased  by  me,  in  partner- 
ship with  a  New  York  firm,  for  $18,000,  was  immediately  equip- 
ped, and  got  ready,  and  sent  to  Nantes  with  a  cargo  of  cotton  and 
deer  hides.  The  stern  of  the  ship  bore  the  name  of  Lord  Nelson, 
which  we  could  not  allow  to  remain  under  the  American  flag,  and 
so  we  called  her  Horatio,  which  was  Lord  Nelson's  baptismal 
name.  The  vessel's  draft  was  twenty  feet ;  and  as  there  was  only 
eighteen  feet  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  I  sent  her  round  to 
the  other  side  of  the  Balize,  the  guard-house  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  had  her  anchors  cast  there,  and  sent  the  most  of  her  lading 
out  to  her. 

I  must  recall  to  the  reader,  that  during  the  preparations  to  re- 
ceive the  invaders,  just  at  the  moment  of  their  appearance  in  our 
neighborhood,  I  had  received  a  note  from  Mr.  Shields,  requesting 
a  truce  until  the  danger  that  threatened  Louisiana  and  New  Or- 
leans should  have  passed  over.  This  note,  of  December  14,  was 
intended  as  an  answer  to  my  letter  of  November  26,  which  he 
had  thus  kept  eighteen  days,  and  in  which  I  had  informed  him, 
that  his  whole  conduct  towards  me  had  been  so  contemptible,  that 
I  considered  him  unworthy  the  notice  of  a  gentleman.  It  was 
handed  to  my  friend  Nott  by  J.  K.  Smith,  the  marine  paymaster, 
under  his  guaranty,  that  so  soon  as  either  party  should  desire  to 
renew  the  difficulties,  the  matter  should  be  notified  to  the  other, 


MR.  THOMAS  SHIELDS.  241 

and  the  whole  .affair  brought  to  an  honorable  end.  On  this  occa- 
sion Mr.  Smith  remarked,  that  nothing  was  more  foolish  than  to 
mix  into  the  quarrels  of  others,  and  to  fight  about  matters  that 
do  not  concern  us, 

I  was  busy  with  my  preparations  for  a  visit  to  Europe,  as  1 
published  in  the  journals,  with  the  notification,  that  during  my 
absence  my  partner  Hollander  would  conduct  the  business.  On 
the  12th  of  April,  the  day  on  which  this  publication  appeared,  I 
received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Shields,  declaring  that  his  patience  had 
come  to  an  end,  and  that  he  now  officially  notified  me  of  his  inten- 
tion to  exact  corporal  satisfaction  from  me,  cane  in  hand.  My 
reply  was  that  I  would  publish  the  whole  correspondence,  and  let 
the  public  judge  between  us :  and  as  he  sent  my  letter  back  un- 
opened, I  put  it  in  the  papers.  Before  this,  however,  Mr.  Shields 
had  everywhere  declared  that  nobody  would  take  such  a  course 
but  a  liar  and  a  cowardly  scoundrel.  My  answer  took  the  same 
course,  and  was  in  these  words  : — 

"  As  Mr.  Thomas  Shields  has  seen  fit  to  mention  publicly  my 
name,  coupled  with  epithets  which  rather  describe  his  own  charac- 
ter, I  hereby  inform  all  who  believe  him  a  man  of  courage  and 
honor  that  they  are  in  error  ;  and  I  request  those  who  hear  both 
sides,  before  judging,  to  wait  a  few  days  for  the  publication  of  the 
correspondence  between  us.  VINCENT  NOLTE." 

"New  Orleans,  April  15,  1815." 

A  friend,  who  had  read  the  threatening  letter  of  Mr.  Shields, 
had,  on  his  own  responsibility,  notified  the  Justice  of  the  Peace. 
Freval,  and  he  had  held  Shields  to  bail,  in  the  sum  of  $4,000,  to 
keep  the  peace  in  general,  and  towards  me  in  particular. 

This  correspondence  made  a  great  sensation  in  the  city.  The 
unworthy  intrigues  of  Mr.  Saul  and  his  companions,  to  satisfi 
their  own  base  lust  of  vengeance,  their  method  of  preparing  poi- 
soned arrows  privately  to  shoot  at  me,  and  their  system  of  em 
ploying  worthless  men,  like  all  my  antagonists,  or  half  madmen, 
like  Shields,  to  work  underhandedly,  and  of  setting  them  on  me. 
like  so  many  mad  dogs — all  this  showed  the  entire  respectable  and 

11 


242  "A  SHOT  IN  THE  REAR." 

honorable  population  of  the  city,  in  the  clearest  and  most  con- 
vincing manner  how  small  and  absurd  was  the  position  of  this 
pitiful  boaster,  who,  in  the  Exchange,  and  on  the  street  corners, 
was  endeavoring  to  pass  as  a  judge  of  manners,  and  an  authority 
in  transactions  of  this  kind.  Shields,  half  cracked  before,  now 
went  entirely  mad,  and  went  about  asking  everybody  how  he 
could  answer  my  publication.  It  was  in  vain  to  tell  him  that  he 
had  already  branded  me  as  a  liar,  that  nobody  would  believe  me, 
that  his  honor  was  yet  unsullied,  etc.  He  still  had  sense  enough 
to  recognize  that  for  honest  men  he  was  branded.  The  lawyer 
Grymes,  a  man  thoroughly  at  home  in  ingenious  financial  matters, 
and  always  in  want  of  money,  said  to  him,  "  Now,  Shields,  if  you 
will  give  me  a  thousand  dollars,  I  will  answer  Nolte's  pamphlet 
in  your  name."  "  Done !"  was  Shields'  answer ;  "  it  is  a  bar- 
gain.? Fourteen  days  later  appeared  a  little  book,  of  one  sheet, 
which  proved  only  the  impossibility  of  getting  a  result  from  the 
preposterous  instructions  of  an  idiot. 

My  pamphlet  had,  however,  smitten  Saul  &  Co.  harder  even 
than  Shields.  This  man  found  himself  so  thoroughly  unmasked ; 
his  rhodomontades,  his  manner  of  speech,  proverbial  among  those 
who  knew  him,  had  been  so  literally  sketched ;  his  want  of  mod- 
esty, as  well  as  of  sound  logic ;  the  unworthiness  of  his  cabals  and 
private  schemes  were  set  so  naked  in  the  daylight,  that  he  could 
hardly  contain  his  rage.  It  was  his  only  thought  by  day,  it  was 
his  nightmare.  One  day  I  learned  that  he  was  teaching  the  use 
of  the  pistol  every  afternoon  to  his  oldest  son,  a  stupid  and  yet 
conceited  booby.  "  No  one  knows  of  what  use  this  may  be,"  was 
his  common  expression ;  and  the  beloved  son  was  taught  that  he 
should  one  day  be  his  father's  avenger.  One  evening  I  was  on 
the  Levee,  with  a  couple  of  acquaintances,  when  suddenly  I  felt 
some  one  spit  upon  my  back.  I  turned  round  quickly,  and  said, 
"  What  is  that  V  I  saw  rapidly  retiring  the  spiritless,  corpse-pale 
face  of  Saul's  eldest  son.  "  You  could  not  prove  yourself  the 
true  son  of  your  father  but  by  attacking  me  from  behind."  I 
called  after  him.  I  was  excessively  excited,  and  knew  not  what 
to  do.  The  young  man  was  evidently  crazy.  But  how  was  I  to 
get   at  the  right  person,  and  demand  satisfaction  from  him  who 


HIS  RETIREMENT.  243 

had  already  refused  it.  Something  must  be  done  ;  and  I  saw  no 
other  means  than  to  seek  the  young  man  who  had  so  grossly 
insulted  me,  the  next  morning ;  and  as  I  knew  that  he  was  deter- 
mined in  one  way  or  another  to  get  me  out  of  the  way,  I  deter- 
mined to  sell  my  life  as  dearly  as  possible.  The  inflexibility  of 
my  right  arm,  because  of  the  elbow  having  been  broken,  gave  too 
great  an  advantage  to  my  opponent  in  a  long  distance.  I  wished, 
therefore,  to  fight  at  five  paces,  and  so  to  settle  one  or  the  other. 
My  two  friends,  Major  McCormick,  of  the  Marines,  and  Mr.  St. 
Avit,  were  my  seconds,  and  arranged  the  distance  agreeably  to  my 
desires.  The  challenge  was  accepted,  but  the  distance  was  protested 
against,  and  ten  paces  insisted  on.  Finally,  after  much  debate, 
seven  paces  was  agreed  upon.  The  first  toss  for  choice  of  posi- 
tion was  won  by  my  adversary's  second,  Beale.  The  next  was 
equally  against  me,  and  gave  him  the  word,  which  was  to  be  one, 
two,  three.  My  two  seconds — more  particularly  my  not-to-be- 
forgotten  friend,  Major  McCormick,  one  of  the  noblest  men  whom 
1  have  ever  known — were  so  annoyed  at  the  position  in  which 
they  saw  me,  just  come  from  a  three  years'  war,  and  on  the  point 
of  going  to  Europe  to  see  my  friends,  and  to  procure  for  my  firm 
the  position  for  which  I  had  labored  for  four  years  and  six  months 
— a  position  that  exposed  me  to  a  young  man  of  fiery  mood  be- 
tween life  and  death — that  they  could  scarcely  attend  to  the  neces- 
sary circumstances  of  a  duel.  As  we  took  our  places,  I  asked 
Major  McCormick  whether  the  pistol  worked  well.  "  I  do  not 
know,"  he  answered,  tearfully.  "  Let  me  hear,"  said  I ;  "  cock 
it."  He  did  so,  and  I  heard  that  all  was  right,  and  took  the  pistol. 
I  have  said  that  my  elbow  had  been  broken.  This  prevented  me 
from  holding  my  arm  straight.  My  adversary's  second  declared 
that  all  the  advantage  was  on  my  side  ;  beside,  I  could  not  help 
holding  the  mouth  of  the  pistol  a  little  elevated,  and  he  insisted 
that  his  principal  should  do  the  same.  Accordingly  he  placed  his 
arm  in  that  position,  the  word  was  given,  we  fired,  and  he  shot 
me  in  the  left  leg.  I  lost  my  shot,  and,  from  loss  of  blood,  fell. 
I  was  carried  home,  and  confined  to  bed  for  fourteen  days.  The 
bail  could  not  be  found.  Wherever  it  went,  it  remains  to  this  day. 
In  the  meanwhile  the  ship  Horatio  had  been  loaded.     Then  we 


244  OUTSIDE  THE  BALIZE. 

were  told  that  Napoleon  had  landed  at  Cannes,  but  we  had  no  de- 
tails. The  jubilee  of  the  city  was  incomprehensible.  The  French 
consul,  Colonel  Toussard,  who,  a  year  before,  had  worn  a  white 
cockade,  at  the  news  of  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  and  who 
had  been  hooted  by  the  whole  mob,  therefore  concluded  to  put  on 
the  tri-color  again.  Once  more  I  was  in  a  condition  to  be  trans- 
ported. I  was  put  into  a  hammock.  My  captain  procured  me  a 
surgeon,  who  visited  me  on  board  the  Horatio,  whither  I  went  by 
moonlight,  about  twelve  o'clock.  The  ship  was  ready  ;  the  pas- 
sengers were  the  well-known  American  Consul-Gen eral  in  Paris, 
Fulwar  Skipwith,  with  his  two  daughters ;  Captain  Roche,  whom 
I  have  frequently  named ;  an  old  French  schoolmaster,  called 
Habure,  and  a  Bernese  who  had  married,  and  was  now  leaving,  a 
rich  planter's  widow.  The  next  morning  a  vessel  arrived,  after 
an  unusually  short  passage,  and  brought  us  Havre  news  of  March 
24.  We  learned  Napoleon's  triumphal  march  through  France, 
the  flight  of  the  Bourbons,  and  his  entry  into  Paris.  The  papers 
brought  by  the  vessel  gave  me  the  preceding  history  of  Napo- 
leon's acts.  I  observed  that  military  influence  was  the  cause  of 
this  return,  and  determined  to  send  Captain  Bailey  back  to  the 
city,  with  the  following  letter  to  my  partner  : — 

"  Outside  the  Balize,  on  board  the  Horatio,  ) 
"April  22,  1815.  \ 
"  Dear  Hollander  : — The  journals  that  Captain  Bailey  brings 
you  will  inform  you  of  what  is  newest  in  Paris.  Napoleon  will 
have  again,  God  knows  how  long,  the  Tuileries,  if  not  France.  I 
doubt  that  he  will  stay  long.  His  whole  power,  as  I  think,  is 
with  the  soldiery.  One  thing  is  certain,  he  will  find  himself  in 
great  need  of  money  on  his  return.  We  know,  by  experience, 
that  he  is  very  unscrupulous  ;  and  I  deem  it  not  only  possible,  but 
highly  probable,  that  he  will  lay  hands  upon  all  property  coming 
from  abroad,  under  the  pretence  that  it  is  British.  Therefore  I 
send  Captain  Bailey  to  get  from  you  '  certificates  of  origin'  for  the 
whole  cargo.  You  know  what  I  mean  by  certificates  of  origin  ; 
papers  to  testify  that  the  wares  are  American  products,  and  the 
owners  American  citizens.     These  certificates  must  be  sent  from 


WHAT  BECAME  OF  MY  ENEMIES.  245 

our  house,  and  the  others  interested,  to  the  French  consul,  who 
must  testify  to  their  genuineness.  Send  Bailey  back  quickly,  so 
that  we  may  take  advantage  of  this  wind,  and  get  out  to  sea.  I 
think  I  can  prophesy,  that  by  the  time  we  arrive  on  the  French 
coast  the  whole  comedy  will  have  been  played  out ;  for  my  belief 
grows  stronger  every  day,  that  Napoleon  will  not  be  able  to  main- 
tain himself.  The  glory  that  surrounded  him  is  gone,  and  cannot 
be  recalled.     God  be  with  you.  VINCENT  NOLTE." 

On  the  fourth  day  Captain  Bailey  came  back  with  the  certifi- 
cates, and,  wafted  by  a  favorable  wind,  we  sailed  from  the  yellow 
waters  of  the  Mississippi,  out  upon  the  blue  bosom  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico. 

To  give  a  correct  idea  of  manners  in  New  Orleans,  is  my  reason 
for  having  given  the  history  of  a  duel,  in  itself  so  uninteresting. 
I  yield  it  now  to  oblivion,  as  one  of  my  saddest  and  most  fruitless 
experiences,  although  I  cannot  avoid  mentioning  that  my  first  an- 
tagonist, paymaster  Allen,  eighteen  months  after  the  duel,  became 
a  government  defaulter  for  $4,000  ;  that  young  Saul,  who  was  un- 
derteller  in  his  father's  bank,  had  the  same  misfortune,  only  for 
double  the  amount ;  and  that  the  crack-brained  Shields,  after  find- 
ing that  his  marine  cash-box  was  wanting  in  heavy  sums,  which 
had  been  expended  in  costly  entertainments,  went  mad  altogetb  /r, 
and  ended  his  life  in  a  lunatic  asylum. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

JOURNEY  TO  FRANCE— WATERLOO— PARIS  IN  THE  HANDS 
OF  THE  ALLIES  IN  1815. 

Voyage  to  France — Waterloo — Paris  in  the  hands  of  the  Allies  in  1815 — I 
am  obliged  to  run  into  Havana,  on  my  way  to  Nantes — First  news  of  the 
battle  of  Waterloo,  at  sea — Consternation  and  rage  of  my  French  shipmates 
— Confirmation  of  the  news  by  the  pilot  of  the  Belle-Isle — Arrival  at  Paim- 
bceuf — The  white  flag  of  the  Bourbons  floating  over  the  forts — a  second 
corroboration  of  Napoleon's  fall — Visit  to  my  old  counting- room  at  Nantes 
— The  Venus  Callypyges  still  in  its  former  place — Journey  to  Paris — Prus- 
sian outposts  at  Blois — Major  Keller,  into  whose  hands  Napoleon's  chapeau 
and  sword  had  fallen  at  Charleroi — The  bridge  at  Tours,  and  the  Grena- 
diers of  the  Old  Guard  on  the  left  bank — Paris — Description  of  the  position 
of  affairs — Anecdote  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington — The  death  of  Marshal 
Ney — Review  of  the  Russian  Guard,  on  the  Boulevards,  from  the  Barrier 
du  Trone  to  the  Barrier  de  l'Etoile — The  returned  Euglish  officers  from 
Orleans  at  Paris — Euglish  and  French  cooking — The  American  General 
Scott  at  Paris— Object  of  my  trip  to  Europe — Ouvrard  again  Napoleon's 
Commissary-General  during  the  Hundred  Days — His  description  of  the 
battle  of  Waterloo— Second  return  of  the  Bourbms  —  State  of  financial 
affairs — The  remodelling  of  the  Hope  establishment  at  Amsterdam  in 
1814,  and  the  entry  of  Mr.  Jerome  Sillem  into  it — Financial  embarrass- 
ments of  the  Bourbons — Ouvrard's  success  in  the  negotiation  of  the  first 
loan  through  the  Barings  in  Londou,  and  the  Hopes  in  Amsterdam — Pow- 
erful aid  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington — Ouvrard,  the  creator  of  this  mine  of 
wealth  for  all  concerned,  comes  off  empty-handed  himself. 

The  favorable  wind,  which  had  wafted  us  out  of  the  Mississippi 
into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  still  held  good,"  and  yet  we  were,  for  sev- 
eral hours,  surrounded  by  the  muddy  water,  which,  rolling  down 
with  much  force,  sharply  cuts  the  blue  crystal  waters  of  the  gulf, 
making  a  line  of  division  that  is  distinctly  perceptible  for  some 
thirty  miles  from  the  river's  mouth.  This  phenomenon  may  like- 
wise be  observed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and,  in  even 


IMPORTANT  NEWS.  247 

broader  and  farther-reaching  extent,  at  the  embouchure  of  the  Plata 
river.  The  depth  of  the  Mississippi  at  this  line  of  separation  was 
measured  in  1845,  and  found  to  be  7,800  feet. 

Soon  after  our  departure,  the  unusual  heaving  and  pitching  of 
our  ship,  which,  having  a  cargo  of  2,000  bales  of  cotton,  had  not 
sufficient  ballast,  Captain  Bailey  wisely  determined  to  run  into 
Havana  to  procure  more.  A  return  to  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi would  have  occasioned  incalculable  loss  of  time,  great  ex- 
pense, and  possibly  the  breaking  off  of  a  bargain.  On  the  fourth 
day  of  our  voyage  we  reached  the  magnificent  fortress  El  Moro, 
which  commands  the  entrance  of  the  harbor  of  Havana,  and  from 
which  I  had  parted  five  years  before.  Our  inquiry  for  ballast 
was  soon  satisfied.  The  Cuban  government  had  exposed  to  public 
sale  a  quantity  of  old  and  useless  iron  cannon  balls  ;  and,  by  remov- 
ing one  hundred  and  fifty  bales  of  cotton  from  the  ship's  main- 
hold,  and  bringing  them  on  deck,  we  left  a  larger  space  open  to 
receive  this  very  convenient  ballast,  which  could  be  brought  on 
board  so  easily  and  quickly.  A  sufficient  quantity  of  it  was  pur- 
chased, and  in  a  few  days  the  Horatio  was  once  more  ready  for 
sea.  The  wind  still  continued  favorable,  as  we  stood  out  upon  the 
open  ocean,  and  brought  us,  within  twenty-eight  days,  to  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  English  coasts,  not  far  from  the  Scilly  Islands.  At  this 
point  we  saw  a  large  vessel  in  the  distance,  which  came  towards 
us  with  half-filled  sails,  and  was  soon  recognized  by  Captain  Bai- 
ley, who  belonged  to  New  York,  as  the  monthly  packet  from 
London  to  that  city.  The  captain  readily  complied  with  my  re- 
quest, that  he  would  speak  her  if  possible.  The  two  ships  came 
closer  together,  and  we  distinctly  heard,  through  the  speaking 
trumpet  of  the  packet  captain,  these  words  :  "  How  do  you  do,  Cap- 
tain Bailey]"  the  commander  of  the  London  vessel  proving  to  be  an 
acquaintance.  By  means  of  backing  and  filling  the  sails,  and  using 
the  speaking  trumpets,  they  managed  to  carry  on  the  conversa- 
tion for  some  minutes  ;  and  after  mutual  replies  to  some  seafaring 
questions,  a  passenger,  who  had  taken  the  speaking  trumpet  from 
the  captain's  hands,  suddenly  addressed  me  with,  "  How  do  you 
do,  Mr.  Nolte  V  These  words,  as  I  discovered,  came  from  the 
English  Consul,  Barclay,  who  was  returning  to  New  York,  after  the 


248  A  SLIGHT  MISTAKE. 

end  of  the  war,  and  who  had  recognized  me  on  the  quarter  deck.  I 
now  got  Captain  Bailey  to  ask,  "  What  news  from  France  V  The 
answer  was,  "  The  Duke  of  Wellington,  with  the  British  army, 
are  in  Paris."  Hereupon  followed  the  question,  "  Where  is  Bo- 
naparte V  and  the  last  reply  we  could  catch  brought  the  words, 
"  He  has  fled,  nobody  knows  whither."  At  length  the  two  ships 
separated,  each  one  steering  its  course.  My  readers  should  have 
seen  the  countenances  of  my  two  French  friends  !  Incredulity, 
fury  and  exasperation  were  visible,  by  turns,  in  the  expression  of 
their  features.  I  remarked  that  I  had  prophesied  correctly,  that 
the  whole  comedy,  as  I  had  said  when  we  started,  would  probably 
be  played  out  by  the  time  we  reached  the  shores  of  France. 
My  former  captain,  Roche,  asked  me,  with  a  compassionate  shrug 
jf  the  shoulders,  "So  you  believe  all  that,  do  you  %  It  is  nothing 
but  confounded  English  news,  manufactured  at  London  for  fools ; 
never  mind,  you  will  see  !"  And  hereupon  the  two  Frenchmen 
fell  to  demonstrating,  for  each  other's  satisfaction,  that  this  intel- 
ligence could  not  be  true. 

As  I  afterwards  learned,  they  went  still  farther  in  New  Orleans, 
Adhere  they  had  always  been  fond  of  calling  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton Vilain-ton,  when  the  news  of  the  battle  of  June  18th  was 
made  known  there,  without  any  further  particulars.  Mr.  Thierry, 
the  talented  but  extremely  Bonapartist  editor  of  the  French  paper, 
Courrier  de  la  Louisiane,  undertook  to  analyze  this  news,  and  to 
prove,  by  a  series  of  logical  conclusions,  that  it  masked  a  disastrous 
defeat  of  the  British  army,  and  that  Napoleon  had  undoubtedly 
achieved  a  brilliant  triumph,  which  every  good  Frenchman  was 
consequently  bound  to  celebrate,  without  loss  of  time.  Prepara- 
tions were  instantly  made  to  comply  with  this  suggestion,  and  that 
same  evening  busts  of  Napoleon,  crowned  with  wreaths  of  laurel, 
were  borne  about  in  procession,  surrounded  by  hundreds  of  torches, 
and  several  bands  of  music  were  engaged  to  play  and  sing  na- 
tional French  airs  and  hymns.  Indescribable  was  the  feeling  of 
these  enthusiasts  when,  as  I  was  afterwards  told,  they  heard  the 
real  state  of  the  case  ;  yet  my  two  French  travelling  companions 
gave  me  a  very  fair  idea  of  this  feeling  when  we,  on  the  next  day, 
neared  the  roads  of  Belle  Isle,  and  took  on  board  a  French  pilot 


THE  STATUE  OF  VENUS.  249 

from  Loire.  He  was  instantly  laid  hold  of  by  these  gentlemen, 
and  overwhelmed  with  inquiries,  if  it  were  possible  that  the  stupid 
nonsense  from  England  about  Napoleon's  downfall  could  be  true. 
The  poor  fellow  had  to  make  the  sad  reply,  "Ah !  it  is  only  too 
true !  his  great  courage  has  betrayed  him  !"  "  But  where  is  he 
then  f.  was  the  next  question.  "  Nobody  can  tell ;  they  say  that 
he  has  fled  to  Rochefort,  with  the  intention  of  escaping  to  Amer- 
ica." This  was  the  beginning  of  a  very  animated  conversation 
between  the  pilot  and  our  friends,  who  had  scarcely  been  in  time 
to  order  the  necessary  ship  manoeuvres,  until  an  oath  or  two,  such 
as  "  damn  these  Frenchmen,"  from  Captain  Bailey,  released  him 
from  their  hands.  On  the  banks  of  the  Loire  we  everywhere  saw 
the  white  flag  of  the  Bourbons,  and  at  length  came  to  anchor,  not 
far  from  Painbceuf. 

My  first  visit  in  Nantes  was,  of  course,  to  my  former  employ- 
ers, who  received  me  all  the  more  cordially,  that  I  placed  in  their 
hands,  for  sale,  a  large  part  of  the  cargo  that  I  had  brought  with 
me.  It  was  not  without  a  certain  feeling  of  interest  and  curiosity 
that  I  again  visited  the  counting-room,  where  I,  ten  years  before, 
had  consumed  both  time  and  pen  in  learning  how  to  write  com- 
mercial advices.  Mr.  Labouchere  had  not  yet  lost  his  taste  for 
butterflies,  shells,  dried  fish,  and  lizards,  for  a  quantity  of  these 
were  seen  in  several  cases  ranged  against  the  wall.  But  I  was 
particularly  delighted  with  my  old  favorite,  the  plaster-paris 
statue  of  Venus — Callipyges-Venus  aux  belles  /esses — as  the 
French  call  her,  which  was  still  standing  in  its  old  place  on  a 
desk.  It  was  plainly  to  be  seen  that  Mr.  Labouchere  prized  this 
not  less  highly  than  I  had  done,  but  his  taste  for  art  yielded  to  a 
certain  feeling  of  delicacy,  which  induced  him  to  leave  the  artistic 
beauties  of  the  statue  more  to  the  force  of  conjecture,  than  to  let 
them  be  openly  exposed  to  the  gaze  of  the  uninitiated ;  and  hence  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  turning  the  rear  side,  namely,  that  where  Venus 
spreads  out  the  large  cloth  towards  the  front.  When,  ten  years 
before  this,  I  had  been  accustomed  to  enter  the  office  in  the  morn- 
ing, I  never  failed  to  turn  the  statue  around,  so  that  no  one  might 
be  deprived  of  the  sight  of  those  beauties  to  which  the  statue 
owed  its  name.     However,  if,  in  the  course  of  the  day,  this  change 

11* 


250  THE  GREAT  BATTLE  OF  BELLE  ALLIANCE. 

happened  to  be  noticed,  the  old  direction  was  once  more  carefully 
given  it,  and  this  very  thing  proved  to  me,  also  now  as  formerly, 
that  love  of  art  and  delicacy  of  feeling  had  not  relinquished  a  tittle 
of  their  mutual  rights,  nor  undergone  any  diminution.  The  head 
of  Venus  was  still  looking  as  it  used  to  do,  over  her  shoulder  at  a 
case  of  butterflies,  which  hung  behind  her.  At  so  interesting  and 
important  a  period  of  the  world's  history,  I  could  not  linger  at 
Nantes  any  longer  than  my  business  absolutely  required.  I  was 
burning  with  eagerness  to  reach  Paris,  where  the  fate  of  European 
nations  was  about  to  be  decided  for  the  second  time,  and  I  was 
therefore  soon  upon  my  way  to  that  city.  In  Blois,  where  I 
arrived  the  same  evening  about  10  o'clock,  I  for  the  first  time  saw 
a  portion  of  the  Prussian  army,  intoxicated  with  victory,  whose 
advanced  posts  extended  to  that  place.  The  inn,  where  I  only 
thought  of  taking  my  evening  meal,  was  crowded  to  overflowing 
with  Prussian  officers,  who  so  frequently  repeated  the  wrord  Belle- 
Alliance  that  mj  curiosity  to  get  some  coherent  and  authentic 
details  of  that  great  battle  soon  rose  to  the  highest  pitch.  When 
I  questioned  some  of  the  officers,  their  reply  invariably  was — 
"  Good  heavens,  do  you  not  know  all  about  it  already  V  I  told 
them  that  I  lived  in  America,  and  had  just  arrived  from  there." 
"Ah !  indeed,"  they  said ;  "well,  that's  a  good  reason;  we  will  take 
you  to  our  major,"  they  added,  "  he  will  tell  you  all  about  it.  It 
was  himself  that  took  Napoleon's  chapeau  and  sword  from  his  car- 
riage at  Charleroi,  and  gave  it  to  General  Blucher.  He  is  a 
clever,  pleasant  man,  is  Major  Keller,  and  will  receive  you  well. 
Come  on !  he  lodges  here  in  the  inn."  I  accompanied  them  very 
willingly.  The  officers  led  me  to  their  major,  and  introduced  me 
with  the  words,  "Here,  major,  is  a  man  who  comes  from  the 
woods  of  America,  and  does  not  know  one  syllable  about  the 
great  battle  of  Belle  Alliance,  of  which  every  one  else  is  talking ! 
Be  so  kind  as  to  tell  him  how  we  drove  Napoleon  out."  The  major 
was  really  very  polite.  He  asked  me  to  be  seated,  and  I  at  once 
requested  permission  to  call  for  a  bottle  of  champagne,  in  order  that 
we  might  empty  a  few  glasses  to  his  health  and  that  of  the  Prus- 
sian army.  In  this  way  his  tongue  was  loosened,  and  in  one  short 
hour  I  had  learned  as  much  about  the  battle  as  he  himself  knew. 


PARIS,  AFTER  THE  BATTLE  OF  WATERLOO.  251 

I  then  took  ray  leave  of  him,  and  proceeded  on  my  way  to  Paris. 
On  the  next  morning  I  reached  the  bridge  at  Tours,  where  I  saw 
the  entrance  of  the  Prussian  grenadiers  upon  the  hither  side,  but 
saw  the  opposite  bank  held  by  the  remnants  of  the  old  French 
guard,  with  their  bear-skin  caps.  This  was  the  corps  which  Mar- 
shal Davoust  had  led  to  that  spot,  in  consequence  of  the  capitula- 
tion of  July  3d,  1815,  and  had  encamped  along  the  left  bank  of 
the  Loire.  In  Paris,  whose  governor  was  the  Prussian  General 
Muffling,  I  alighted,  as  I  had  always  done  before,  at  the  Hotel  de 
l'Empire,  on  the  corner  of  the  Rue  d'Artois  and  the  Rue  de  Pro- 
vence, which  afterwards  became  the  property  of  the  banker,  Lafitte. 
The  Russian  Embassy,  the  so  called  Hotel  Phellusson,  lay  to  the 
left  of  it,  and  was  just  at  that  time  occupied  by  the  General  Pozzo 
di  Borgo,  who,  as  a  member  of  the  general  staff  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  had  been  present  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  and  was 
there  wounded.  Paris  at  that  time  contained  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander, the  Emperor  Francis  II.,  of  Austria,  King  Frederick  William 
III.,  of  Prussia,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  Prince  Blucher,  the  Gene- 
ral Field  Marshal  Prince  Von  Schwarzenberg,  Platoff,  the  hetman 
of  the  Cossacks,  innumerable  Russian,  German  and  other  princes, 
and  the  most  distinguished  English,  Russian,  Austrian,  and  Prus- 
sian generals  and  diplomats.  The  result  of  the  battle  at  Water- 
loo had  brought  these  leading  celebrities  of  all  nations  to  Paris, 
and  had  made  that  capital  the  great  centre  of  universal  interest. 
It  swarmed  with  troops  and  uniforms  of  all  kinds  to  such  a  degree 
that  one  could  neither  look  nor  turn,  in  any  direction,  without  his 
gaze  being  arrested  at  once  by  them.  Among  these  masses  of 
military  men,  here  and  there  stalked  the  officers  of  the  disbanded 
French  army,  alone,  like  ghosts,  in  long  blue  mantles,  buttoned 
close  up  to  their  chins,  and  booted  and  spurred,  but  with  their 
chapeaus  pressed  low  down  over  their  foreheads,  and  dark,  rigid 
countenances.  Even  the  ribbon  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  had  dis- 
appeared from  their  button-holes  ;  but  so  soon  as  a  red  [English] 
uniform  approached,  you  would  know  it  at  once  in  the  flashing  eyes 
and  excited  features  of  these  melancholy  pedestrians ;  and  when 
any  of  these  accidental  and  rtfdeed  almost  unavoidable  jostlings  of 
the  elbows,  or  little  collisions  of  the  feet,  which  happened  in  the 


252  THE  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON. 

midst  of  a  moving  crowd,  occurred,  the  angry  "  Je  suis  Francais, 
monsieur!"  or  "Je  suis  officier  Francais!"  broke  forth  with  great 
bitterness  ;  and  if  the  customary  "  Pardon,  monsieur !"  was  then 
omitted,  a  quarrel,  more  or  less  serious,  was  sure  to  follow.  The 
French  police  had  the  difficult  office  to  discharge  to  keep  these 
remnants  of  French  valor,  upon  whom  victory  had  so  lately 
heaped  her  choicest  laurels,  away  from  Paris  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, and  they  succeeded  but  indifferently.  Notwithstanding  this 
extremely  irritated  state  of  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  French  mili- 
tary, kept  down  too  as  it  was  by  force  alone,  there  was  no  one  in 
all  Paris  that  rode  about  more  fearlessly  than  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton: he  showed  himself  every  where,  and  usually  in  a  simple  blue 
overcoat,  with  the  red  English  sash  around  his  waist,  and  the 
usual  military  chapeau  on  his  head,  decorated  with  a  white  and  red 
plume.  He  was  generally  followed  by  a  single  orderly-sergeant  on 
horseback.  I  saw  him  ride  thus  one  morning  into  the  court-yard 
of  the  Hotel  de  l'Empire,  whither  he  had  come  to  inquire  for  the 
celebrated  London  banker  Angerstein,  who  had  also  put  up  there. 
There  was  no  lack  of  anecdotes  concerning  the  notorious  sang- 
froid of  this  hero  of  the  day,  who,  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  had 
several  times  rode  himself  into  the  midst  of  his  squares,  when  the 
French  cuirassiers  charged  in  upon  them.  The  Russian  Count, 
Pozzo  di  Borgo,  used  to  relate  that  the  Duke,  when  he  wanted,  in 
the  very  beginning  of  the  action,  to  make  an  attack  upon  the 
French  line,  with  a  couple  of  regiments  of  Nassau  cavalry,  sud- 
denly found  himself  abandoned  by  them,  at  the  very  first  cannon 
shot  that  was  fired,  and  was  left  alone  with  his  staff,  in  the  middle 
of  the  field.  He  simply  turned  to  the  count,  and  smilingly  said, 
"  What  do  you  think  of  that  %  Yet  it  is  with  such  poltroons  that 
I  am  expected  to  gain  a  battle !"  My  authority  for  this  anec- 
dote is  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  who  heard  it  himself  from  the 
lips  of  Pozzo  di  Borgo. 

The  deepest  interest  was  felt  by  every  one  in  Paris,  at  that 
time,  in  the  trial  of  Marshal  Ney,  then  pending  before  the  Cham- 
ber of  Peers ;  and  the  sympathy  for  that  renowned  soldier  was 
universal.  I  was  sitting  at  the  window  of  the  Cafe  Hardy,  on  the 
corner  of  the  Rue  d'Artois  and  the  Boulevard  des  Italiens,  taking 


EXECUTION  OF  NEY!  253 

my  breakfast,  when  a  strong  detachment  of  French  gendarmes  rode 
past,  and  an  acquaintance  of  mine,  a  Swiss,  by  the  name  of  Sala- 
din,  burst  in,  greatly  agitated,  and  exclaimed :  "  There  are  the  gen- 
darmes returning  !  All  is  over !  I  saw  it !"  This  conveyed  to 
me  the  first  information  that  Ney  had  been  shot,  as  my  friend  had 
witnessed  the  execution  less  than  an  hour  before.  It  was  nothing 
new  to  me,  nor  would  it  be  to  any  one  who  had  learned  to  know 
and  estimate  Ney's  character,  that,  as  Saladin  told  me,  the  great- 
est tranquillity  was  visible  in  his  countenance  at  the  final  moment; 
but  a  comparison,  used  by  my  informant,  struck  me  with  much 
force:  "He  was  as  calm,"  said  my  friend,  "as  though  he  had 
just  swallowed  a  glass  of  water !"  Five  balls  penetrated  the 
marshal's  heart  and  three  buried  themselves  in  his  brain ;  and  he 
fell  without  a  tremor.  I  arose,  agitated,  from  my  breakfast,  and 
was  a  long  time  before  I  could  get  over  my  anger,  at  this  barba- 
rous execution,  which  the  returned  Bourbon  government  had 
deemed  necessary.  All  Paris  afterwards  learned,  that  at  the 
moment  when  the  marshal's  wife,  the  Princess  de  la  Moskowa, 
was  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  Louis  XVIII.,  and  piteously  imploring 
him  to  spare  the  life  of  her  husband,  an  adjutant  entered  the  room 
with  the  words,  "The  marshal  has  ceased  to  live;"  and  thus  ter- 
minated the  interview,  and  the  embarrassment  of  the  king,  who 
would  not  hear  of  granting  any  pardon.  From  the  manifold 
spectacle,  certainly  never  witnessed  before,  which  Paris  at  this 
moment  offered  to  the  eye,  no  one  assuredly  can  form  a  correct 
idea  but  him  who  saw  it.  Let  any  one  summon  up  before  him, 
if  he  can,  the  most  populous  city  in  the  European  continent,  the 
very  centre  of  its  elegance  and  fashion,  in  the  hands  of  two  distin- 
guished foreign  armies,  the  French  and  Prussian,  intoxicated 
with  success,  and  surrounded  by  the  numerous  hosts  of  the  Rus- 
sian autocrat  and  of  the  German  emperor — Austrians  and  Cos- 
sacks, Baschkiers  and  Englishmen,  Prussians  and  Honveds,  in 
variegated  combination;  the  public  promenades  and  places  of 
public  amusement,  the  restaurants  and  theatres,  filled,  to  over- 
flowing, with  the  elite  of  these  sons  of  Mars,  and  in  among  them 
the  ever  elegant,  but  more  or  less  respectable  female  classes  of 
Paris,  from  the  so-called  Lionnes  to  the  Lorettes — two  names, 


254  PARISIAN  RESTAURATEURS. 

which,  at  tha.t  time,  had  not  yet  become  fashionable,  although  the 
ladies  who  bear  them  have  always  existed  in  these  gay  creatures, 
crossing  and  re-crossing  the  many-colored  scene  we  have  described, 
with  all  their  own  peculiar  grace  and  lightness — the  Parisian 
populace  and  its  "  gamins"  mingling  in  harmonious  brotherhood 
with  the  foreign  troopers — these  "  Alexanders  at  four  sous 
a  head,"  as  Voltaire  used  to  term  the  common  soldiery — let  the 
reader,  I  say,  picture  all  this  to  himself,  and  he  will,  perhaps,  be 
able  to  form  an  idea  of  the  reality.  The  varied  spectacle  con- 
tinued day  and  night,  without  intermission — for  the  brief  nights 
of  July  sped  swiftly  away,  in  the  gratification  of  the  curiosity 
awakened  in,  and  inspired  by  the  stranger  guests ;  then,  too,  there 
was  not  only  every  species  of  enjoyment  at  hand,  but  also  ample 
means  for  its  indulgence;  full  purses  and  the  life  of  Paris  are 
easily  reconciled !  The  four  and  twenty  hours  were  passed  in  an 
uninterrupted  dream ;  and  those  who  were  surrounded  by  this 
excitement,  re-awoke,  after  brief  slumber,  to  begin  another  dream, 
that  bore  them  along  with  open  eyes. 

It  was  curious  to  observe  the  selection  made  by  the  diplomats 
and  officers  who  had  to  dine  in  the  restaurants  of  the  capital. 
Thus,  for  instance,  the  diplomatists  and  all  who  belonged  to  the 
embassies,  the  Russian  officers  of  the  higher  rank  preferred  the 
elegant  saloons  of  the  restaurateur  Beauvilliers,  while  the  cele- 
brated name  of  Very,  drew  to  his  establishment  all  the  English  and 
Prussian  gourmets,  and  you  could  not  travel  his  long  lowersaloon, 
where,  on  one  side,  the  English,  and  on  the  other,  the  Prussian 
officers  used  to  sit,  without  having  to  skip  over  the  trailing  cavalry 
sabres  that  stuck  out  behind  the  seats  of  the  company,  and 
crossed  each  other  in  a  series  of  figures  like  the  letter  X.  The 
uniform  usually  announced  the  choice  of  dishes,  before  the 
customer  had  time  to  speak,  and  the  garcons  were  seldom  mis- 
taken ;  when,  as  they  saw  a  red  uniform,  denoting  its  wearer  to  be 
English,  enter  the  room  they  got  their  mouths  ready  to  say, 
Bifsteck  aux  pommes  de  terre  ?  or,  as  a  Prussian  came  in,  at  once 
suggested  some  kind  of  a  potage.  The  English  officers  were 
somewhat  dull  of  comprehension  when  the  waiters  made  inquiry 
respecting  the  portions  they  were  to  order,  as  for  example,  where 


MILITARY  NOTABILITIES.  255 

a  simple  portion  of  beef  and  a  double  supply  of  green  peas  was 
required.  The  Englishmen  would  then  ask  for  a  "  boeuf  pour  un, 
un  petit  pois  pour  deux,"  and  seldom  comprehended  that  both 
could  be  had  without  ringing  in  the  additional  particle  un. 

An  opportunity  to  see  assembled,  at  one  point,  all  that  Paris 
contained  of  military  and  diplomatic  notabilities  and  royal  per- 
sonages was  presented  to  me,  one  day,  by  a  review  of  the 
Russian  Guards,  on  the  Boulevards,  which  were  occupied,  along 
their  whole  extent,  from  the  Barriere  du  Trone  to  the  Barriere 
de  l'Etoile.  I  had  stationed  myself  on  the  Boulevard  des  Italiens, 
close  by  a  Russian  colonel  who  stood  there  at  the  head  of  his 
regiment,  and  had  engaged  in  conversation  with  him.  All  at 
once  a  number  of  patrolling  sentinels  spread  themselves  along 
behind  the  front  line,  and  caused  the  spectators  to  recede  a  few 
steps.  I  expressed  to  the  colonel  my  regret  at  this  arrangement, 
as  it  would,  most  probably,  deprive  me  of  the  chance  of  seeing 
the  three  monarchs  of  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria,  who  were 
expected  at  every  moment,  to  ride  past  accompanied  by  their 
respective  staffs.  The  colonel  who  was  a  very  good  natured  man, 
had  a  small  hump  on  his  back,  such  as  I  had  not  seen  before  on  any 
military  person,  politely  said  : — "  Very  well,  Monsieur,  remain 
where  you  are,  at  my  side,  and  no  one  will  meddle  with  you  !" 
I  did  so,  and  was  not  molested.  Suddenly,  the  three  monarchs 
came  riding  rapidly  along  the  lines ;  the  Emperor  Alexander  in 
the  middle,  his  eyes  directed  at  the  ladies  in  the  windows  and 
balconies ;  on  his  right  the  Emperor  Francis  II.  of  Austria,  with 
his  grave  face,  looking  straight  before  him ;  and  on  his  left,  King 
Frederic  William  III.,  who  seemed  to  be  rather  examining  the 
caps  among  the  people,  than  the  ladies  on  the  balconies.  The 
staff  consisted,  as  my  clever  friend,  the  colonel,  reckoned  it,  of 
more  than  a  thousand  military  personages  from  all  countries,  and 
dressed  in  every  variety  of  uniform.  A  lucky  chance  ordained 
that  their  Majesties  and  the  whole  procession  should  halt  directly 
in  front  of  the  regiment  on  my  right,  and  I  then  partly  recognized 
of  my  own  knowledge,  and  partly  had  pointed  out  to  me,  by  my 
obliging  protector,  the  following  dignitaries  : — The  Russian  Grand 
Dukes  Constantine,  Nicholas,  and  Michael,  the  Austrian  Arch- 


250  OLD  ACQUAINTANCES. 

dukes  Charles  and  John,  several  Prussian  Princes,  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  the  Austrian  Field-Marshal,  Prince  Von  Schwarzen- 
berg,  Field-Marshal  Blucher,  General  Gneisenau,  General  M lifting, 
the  Cossack  Hetman  Platoff,  a  throng  of  English,  Prussian,  and 
Austrian  generals,  Lord  Castlereagh,  Lord  Stuart,  Prince  Met- 
ternich  and  others,  whose  names  and  physiognomies  have  escaped 
me.  As  I  was  returning  to  my  lodgings,  after  the  review,  I  ran 
against  my  former  Captain  and  travelling  companion  Roche, 
almost  in  tears.  "  Ah,  mon  Dieu  !"  he  exclaimed,  "  I  never 
imagined  that  they  were  such  splendid  troops, — these  so-called 
barbarians  and  Cossacks  ; — how  our  bulletins  lied  about  them  ! 
And  yet  what  they  said,  we  took  for  gospel !" 

The  division  of  the  English  Major-General  Lambert,  which  we 
had  fought  in  New  Orleans,  had  returned  to  Europe,  in  time 
enough  to  participate  in  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  and  occupation 
of  Paris.  Suddenly,  one  day,  I  found  myself  surrounded  by 
several  English  officers,  who  greeted  me  with  a  cheery  "  How  do 
you  do,  Mr.  Nolte  !"  My  newly  found  acquaintances  were  Major 
Mitchell,  Lieutenant  Dobree,  and  others,  who  had  fallen  into  our 
hands,  as  prisoners,  at  New  Orleans,  and  who  felt  very  grateful 
for  the  friendly  treatment  they  had  experienced  there,  in  my 
house,  during  the  brief  period  that  elapsed  after  their  capture, 
until  the  ratification  of  peace,  at  Ghent.  These  gentlemen,  in 
order  to  give  some  expression  of  their  kind  feeling  in  return, 
invited  me  to  a  dinner,  which  they  ordered  at  Very's,  with  precise 
instructions  to  observe  in  everything,  the  English  style — a  by  no 
means  agreeable  novelty  to  one  of  the  "  fins  cuisiniers  de  Paris," 
who  was  thus  deprived  of  all  freedom  of  invention.  This  rage 
for  looking  upon  English  habits  and  customs  as  the  rule  and 
criterion  of  the  excellent,  in  everything  which  prevails  on  the 
Continent  as  well  as  in  England  itself,  is  seldom  got  rid  of  by 
a  native  of  the  latter  country.  If  there  be  any  nation  which  can 
lay  claim  to  such  privilege,  it  is  indeed,  the  English ;  but  this 
remark  has  its  limits,  and  cannot  apply  to  every  case.  The 
dinner  of  my  hospitable  friends  passed  off  as  well  as  was  possible 
under  the  circumstances ;  but  of  course,  they  did  not  find  the  fish 
so  fresh,  nor  the  roast  beef  so  tender  and  savory  as  in  England, 


GENERAL  SCOTT.  257 

and  consequently,  could  not  pass  it  over  without  their  usual 
"  d — n  all  French  cookery  !"  I  felt  constrained  for  the  honor  of 
the  French  cuisine  to  return  the  dinner,  and  that,  too,  in  the  house 
of  the  same  restaurateur,  Very,  whose  condemnation  they  had 
pronounced.  When  I  was  ordering  the  dinner  at  Madame  Very's, 
formerly  the  mistress  of  Lucien  Bonaparte,  and  dividing  my 
attention  between  a  pair  of  superb  melons  that  lay  upon  her 
marble  table,  under  a  slight  covering  of  gauze,  and  the  heaving 
bosom  of  the  hostess,  half-screened  with  the  same  delicate  tissue, 
where  she  sat  behind  the  luscious  fruit,  I  took  care  to  intimate  that 
the  repast  in  question,  was  intended  to  show  my  English  friends 
that  there  was  such  a  thing  as  good  eating  to  be  had  at  Paris.  That 
was  enough !  My  guests  slighted  none  of  the  numerous  and  varied 
dishes  set  before  them,  drank  copiously,  and  with  evident  pleasure, 
and  found  themselves  lighter  and  gayer  after  a  hearty  meal  than 
if  they  had  been  devouring  two  or  three  pounds  of  roast-beef,  and 
had  emptied  bottle  after  bottle  of  port  wine.  They  finally  con 
fessed,  that  "  a  French  dinner  was  a  very  good  thing,  after  all." 

Among  the  countless  numbers  that  Paris  had  attracted,  at  the 
time  of  which  I  am  writing,  was  the  American  General  Scott,  the 
same  who  was  lately  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  of  the  United 
States.  He  had,  during  the  three  years'  war  with  England,  distin- 
guished himself  in  various  operations  on  the  Canadian  frontiers, 
such  as  storming  a  couple  of  forts,  etc.,  and  was  looked  upon  by 
his  countryman  as  a  military  star  of  the  highest  order.  He  was 
indebted  to  this  circumstance  for  his  mission  to  Europe,  whither 
the  government  had  sent  him  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  his  military 
knowledge,  and  thoroughly  study  the  art  of  war.  He  came  to 
Paris  with  the  idea,  that  the  greetings  of  the  great  military  lead- 
ers of  the  Continent,  and  the  testimonials  of  their  admiration, 
would  be  everywhere  extended  to  him.  In  this,  however,  to  his 
visible  chagrin,  he  had  been  greatly  misled.*  In  the  vast  collec- 
tion of  military  celebrities  then  assembled  at  Paris,  where,  in  one 
single  circle,  could  be  found  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  Marshal 
Prince  Blucher,  and  Schwarzenberg,  the  Russian  Field-Marshal 
Kutusoff,  the  Generals  Woronzow,  Rostopchin,  Tchitchagoff,  and 

all  these  remarbable  personages,  covered  with  military  decora*- 
*  See  Appendix. 


258  MY  OWN  AFFAIRS. 

tions,  stars,  and  orders,  the  long,  thin  American,  in  his  simple  blue 
coat,  without  embroidery  of  any  kind,  and  distinguished  only  by 
a  modest  pair  of  epaulettes,  could  not  expect  to  awaken  any  very 
great  attention.  But  Scott  could  not  dissemble  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  part  he  had  played  in  his  own  country,  wherever  he 
showed  himself,  and  his  present  position,  and  frequently  gave  way 
to  vehement,  and  sometimes  even  laughable  exhibitions  of  tem- 
per. But  one  thing  is  certain,  viz.,  that  he  felt  and  understood 
what  he  was  worth ;  for  in  later  days  he  displayed  his  not  incon- 
siderable military  and  strategic  capacity,  on  another  theatre  than 
the  Canadian  frontiers,  that  is  to  say,  during  the  war  with  Mex- 
ico, in  1846  and  1847,  when  he  attracted  and  fixed  general  atten- 
tion. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  my  return  to  Europe.  It  originated, 
chiefly,  in  the  wish  I  felt  to  renew  some  former  business  relations 
which  had  been  broken  off  since  1812,  by  the  unexpected  war 
with  England,  and  to  open  a  trade  upon  a  secure  basis  with  some 
of  the  European  places  whose  commerce  was  the  most  important 
for  New  Orleans.  In  the  French  ports,  people  had  not  yet  be- 
come sufficiently  restored  to  consciousness ;  after  so  long  a  sup- 
pression of  everything  like  the  spirit  of  enterprise,  they  were  still 
groping  about  in  the  dark.  None  but  the  shippers  had  begun  to 
move.  After  a  short  visit,  paid  to  my  London  friends,  the  Bar- 
ings— upon  which  occasion  a  few  lines  from  Mr.  Alexander  Baring, 
then  at  Geneva,  informed  me  that  I  should  most  probably  meet 
him  in  Paris — I  returned  to  the  latter  city,  and  determined,  in  the 
meanwhile,  to  visit  the  south  of  France,  particularly  Marseilles, 
afterwards  repairing  to  Bayonne  and  Bordeaux,  and  thence  re- 
turning to  Paris — From  Marseilles  I  dispatched,  to  New  Orleans, 
the  first  cargo  of  export  articles  that  had  left  that  port  since  the 
peace.  I  took  my  return  trip  through  Nismes,  Montpelier,  Nar- 
bonne,  and  the  Pyrenees,  visited  my  friend  A.  P.  Lestapis  and 
his  family  at  Pau,  went  thence  to  Bayonne  and  Bordeaux,  and 
finally,  in  the  month  of  March,  met  my  patron  and  friend,  Mr. 
Alexander  Baring,  at  Paris.  The  consequences  that  followed  the 
renewed  interviews  we  had  together  were,  that  the  blank  credit 
for  £10,000  opened  in  favor  of  my  house,  was  confirmed,  and,  in 


OUVRARD  AND  NAPOLEON.  250 

addition  thereto,  full  power  conceded  to  interest  the  London  firm 
to  double  that  amount  in  any  safe  local  business. 

It  was  just  at  this  time,  when  the  exhaustion  of  the  French 
treasury,  and  the  daily  increasing  necessities  of  the  government, 
coupled  with  its  utter  inability  to  procure  credit,  was  occasioning 
it  the  greatest  embarrassments,  to  such  an  extent,  indeed,  that,  to 
use  a  very  common  expression,  "it  could  not  help  itself," — that 
Ouvrard  had  an  opportunity  of  again  raising  his  head,  and  finding 
an  appropriate  field  for  the  full  exercise  of  his  undeniably  com- 
manding financial  talent.  He  had  already  carried  on  a  corres- 
pondence, respecting  the  financial  position  of  France,  with  the  two 
heads  of  the  Hope  and  Baring  firms,  with  whom  he  was  on  terms 
of  friendship.  During  the  brief  interregnum  of  the  Bourbons,  be- 
tween the  months  of  April,  1814,  and  March,  1815,  when  Napo- 
leon threw  France  and  all  Europe  into  astonishment  by  his  sudden 
return  from  Elba,  he  had  used  all  the  influence  he  still  retained 
with  Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.  to  procure  for  Auguste  Doumerc,  the 
new  Commissary-General,  the  funds  he  needed  to  carry  on  his 
business  and  fulfil  his  obligations  ;  but  the  Emperor's  return 
brought  about,  as  may  readily  have  been  foreseen,  a  complication 
in  the  business,  which  was  conducted  under  the  name  of  Doumerc, 
but  in  reality  appertained  to  Ouvrard.  Under  these  circumstances 
he  could  not  extricate  himself,  either  from  the  liquidation  of  his 
former  liabilities,  nor  from  those  arising  out  of  the  business  he 
had  just  been  carrying  on  under  another  person's  name  :  hence  he 
was  obliged  to  remain  in  Paris,  subject  to  the  imperious  and  arbi- 
trary will  of  his  old  enemy,  Napoleon.  In  the  meanwhile  the  lat- 
ter had  found  time  for  reflection  at  Elba ;  and  if  he  had  not  be- 
come convinced  of  the  injustice  he  had  done  to  a  man  whom  he 
had  treated  so  inconsiderately  and  unmercifully,  he  had  at  least 
recognized  the  value  of  that  man's  financial  capacity.  Twenty-four 
hours  in  the  Tuilleries  had  scarcely  rolled  by  when  Napoleon, 
although  he  found  fifty  millions  of  francs  in  the  treasury,  deemed 
it  expedient  to  summon  Ouvrard  to  an  interview.  The  pretext 
put  forward  to  account  for  this  step  was  a  proposition  from  the 
Emperor  to  send  Ouvrard  as  his  plenipotentiary  to  the  Congress 
at  Vienna,  there  to  bring  about  a  favorable  change  of  opinion,  in 


2G0  OUVRARD  AND  NAPOLEON. 

the  minds  of  Talleyrand  and  Metternich,  respecting  the  resolu 
tions  that  were  to  be  adopted  by  the  Congress  in  relation  to  him- 
self. Ouvrard  declined  this  mission,  and  the  real  object  of  the 
interview  w.as  then  brought  upon  the  tapis,  viz.,  the  desperate 
want  of  funds  felt  at  that  moment.  "  Can  you  give  me  any 
money  V!  was  Napoleon's  question.  "  How  much  does  your  im- 
perial majesty  require  ?"  was  the  answer.  "  To  begin  with,"  said 
the  emperor,  "fifty  millions  of  francs."  "  I  could  get  that  amount 
within  twenty  days,  in  return  for  five  millions  of  Rente  (of  which 
the  price  was  then  fifty-three  francs),  to  be  given  me  at  fifty  francs, 
and  under  the  condition  that  the  treasury  shall  pay  Doumerc, 
whose  creditor  I  am,  the  fifteen  millions  it  owes  him."  The 
agreement  was  at  once  concluded,  and  the  terms  drawn  up  on  the 
spot,  by  a  secretary  of  the  emperor,  the  latter  dictating  every 
word,  and  signing  the  paper  with  his  own  hand  ;  for  Ouvrard 
was  unwilling  to  let  it  pass  through  the  hands  of  the  ministers," 
who  had,  on  other  occasions,  signed  so  many  of  the  emperor's 
decrees  to  his  loss  and  overthrow.  Napoleon — who  had  made 
himself  fully  acquainted  with  the  condition  of  the  public  credit  on 
the  Paris  Bourse — himself  doubted  the  success  of  this  proposition ; 
but  when  Ouvrard  continued,  for  seventeen  days,  to  pay  in  two 
millions  of  francs  daily  to  the  treasury,  he  could  scarcely  master 
his  astonishment.  This  was  perhaps  the  first  time  that  he,  who 
had  never  known  any  other  way  of  filling  the  treasury,  than 
by  contributions  from  the  countries  he  overran,  and  the  taxation 
of  his  own  subjects,  formed  a  correct  idea  of  the  power  of  credit, 
and  learned,  by  experience,  that  a  state  debt,  even  in  a  precarious 
condition  of  public  credit,  is  still  the  very  source  from  which  to 
supply  the  deficiencies  of  public  income. 

Ouvrard  was  obliged  to  accept,  under  certain  conditions,  Napo- 
leon's proposal  to  make  him,  once  again,  Commissary-General  of 
the  army.  He  followed  the  emperor  when  he  set  out  with  his 
army  to  the  Belgian  frontier ;  and,  at  Waterloo,  was  among  his 
staff,  and  in  his  immediate  neighborhood.  Some  time  afterwards, 
when  I  had  an  opportunity  of  talking  to  him  about  the  battle,  he 
remarked :  "  I  was  there  as  a  spectator  of  the  finest  drama  I  ever 
witnessed.     The  connection  and  succession  of  scenes  moved  on- 


OUVRARD'S  OPERATIONS.  2G1 

ward  of  themselves;  the  interest  was  fixed  at  the  beginning, 
and  sustained  throughout  to  the  very  end— a  deplorable  one,  if  you 
will,"  he  added,  "  for  no  one  could  see  it  more  clearly."  Ouv- 
rard  was  then,  and  always  remained,  what  the  French  call  "  un 
aimable  causeur" — a  pleasant  talker,  and  the  gift  of  riveting 
the  attention  of  his  hearers  remained  with  him  to  his  latest 
years.  I  met  with  him  again  in  1835 ;  and.  when  I  last  saw  him 
in  Paris,  eleven  years  afterwards,  he  had  reached  the  good  old  age 
of  seventy-six.  His  appointment  to  the  post  of  Munitionnaire- 
General  of  the  French  army,  during  the  Hundred  Days,  he  owed 
to  the  conviction  Napoleon  had  acquired  at  Elba,  that  in  him  he 
would  select  the  best,  the  proper,  the  only  man  who  could  make 
the  equipment  and  victualling  of  an  army  embracing  one  hundred 
thousand  men,  possible,  without  immediate  funds,  and  in  this 
appointment,  unwillingly  made,  as  it  was,  beyond  a  doubt,  for 
the  force  of  circumstances  alone  had  brought  it  about,  lay  the 
strongest  acknowledgment  of  his  merit,  and  the  only  satisfaction 
at  that  time  possible  for  the  injustice  and  ill  treatment  to  which 
he  had  been  subjected.  But  Ouvrard  had  still  another  recognition 
of  his  claim  to  deference  and  respect,  when  Napoleon,  in  the  midst 
of  his  preparations  for  departure  to  another  hemisphere,  offered 
him  1,400,000  francs  of  Rente  for  bills  on  the  United  States,  to 
the  amount  of  fourteen  millions,  the  Rente  to  be  taken  at  fifty 
francs.  But,  Ouvrard  foresaw  that,  after  Napoleon's  flight,  the 
Rente  would  be  disputed,  and  consequently  declined  the  propo 
sition. 

The  restored  government  of  Louis  XVIII.  had  to  contend  with 
unusual  difficulties,  in  raising  the  funds  that  were  absolutely  ne- 
cessary for  not  only  the  royal  coffers,  but  for  the  payment  of 
subsidies  and  the  support  of  the  foreign  armies.  The  extremely 
impolitic  measure  of  a  forced  loan,  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred 
millions,  resorted  to,  could  have  no  other  consequences  than  to 
close  the  door  upon  all  return  of  confidence.  Ouvrard,  who,  as  I 
have  elsewhere  stated,  had  busied  himself  as  early  as  the  year 
1814,  with  all  kinds  of  projects,  in  order  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
government  by  foreign  loans,  now  came  forward  with  fresh  pro- 
positions, and  found  means  for  executing  the  plan  he  conceived 


262  THE  HOUSE  OF  HOPE  &  CO. 

of  first  acquiring  the  confidence  of  the  Baring  house,  and  then,  as 
a  natural  consequence,  that  of  Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.,  in  Amster- 
dam. The  latter  had,  in  a  measure,  become  a  branch  of  the 
Baring  concern.  The  downfall  of  Napoleon's  empire  in  1814, 
had  presented  to  this  celebrated  house,  which,  for  five  years  past, 
had  been  subsisting  only  for  the  liquidation  of  the  various  state 
loans  undertaken  by  it,  an  opportunity  of  at  once  resuming  all  its 
former  importance;  but  the  partners,  who  were  then  living  in 
England,  manifested  but  little  disposition  to  do  so :  Mr.  A.  Baring, 
who  fully  comprehended  the  magic  influence  of  so  illustrious  a 
mercantile  name,  and  had  learned  from  past  experience  to  appre- 
ciate the  scope  and  extent  of  its  activity  and  effectiveness,  re- 
solved to  buy  it  out,  under  the  condition  that  the  old,  original 
firm  should  be  maintained.  He  overcame  the  reluctance  of  his 
brother-in-law,  Mr.  P.  C.  Labouchere,  who  had  been  intrusted 
with  the  business  management  of  the  concern,  to  undertake  it 
again,  and  the  latter  finally  consented,  expressly  stipulating  that 
he  should  be  allowed  to  select  an  assistant :  the  desired  aid  was 
found  in  his  friend,  Mr.  Jerome  Sillem,  who  had  formerly  lived 
in  Hamburgh,  and  just  at  the  period  in  question,  was  on  his  re- 
turn from  St.  Petersburgh,  where,  during  Napoleon's  Russian 
Campaign,  he  had  found  an  opportunity  to  reestablish  his  fortune 
which  the  times  had  greatly  impaired.  Mr.  Baring  reserved  for 
himself  a  third  part  in  the  new  house  of  Hope  &  Co.,  and  the 
other  two  thirds  were  divided  between  the  brothers  P.  C.  and 
S.  P.  Labouchere,  Mr.  Jerome  Sillem,  Mr.  Van  der  Hoop  of  the 
former  house  of  Krusen,  at  Amsterdam,  and  Mr.  P.  F.  Lestapis, 
a  younger  brother  of  the  Mr.  A.  P.  Lestapis,  whom  I  have  so 
frequently  mentioned ;  this  young  man  had  been  reared  to  mer- 
cantile pursuits  by  Mr.  Labouchere  in  Holland.  Mr.  Thomas 
Baring,  one  of  the  present  heads  of  the  Baring  house  at  London, 
also  took  part  in  the  management  of  the  Hope  concern,  as  did 
John,  the  younger  son  of  Mr.  P.  C.  Labouchere.  Ouvrard,  who 
was,  unweariedly,  following  out  his  plan,  had,  as  I  have  already 
stated,  been  carrying  on  a  lively  correspondence  with  Mr.  Alex- 
ander Baring  to  the  effect  that  the  French  government  would 
certainly,  sooner  or  later,  be  driven  to  the  necessity  of  making 


FINANCIAL.  2(»3 

heavy  loans,  in  order  to  meet  the  enormous  burthens  laid  upon  it 
daily  for  the  maintenance  of  the  foreign  garrison,  and  annually, 
by  the  contributions  it  was  compelled  to  pay  to  the  allies,  for  the 
space  of  five  years.  The  main  point  on  which  the  success  of 
Ouvrard's  project  depended,  was  the  confidence  of  the  English 
capitalists  and  no  one  possessed  a  surer  key  to  this  than  the  house 
of  the  Barings.  Its  proverbial  honor  and  foresight  alone  could 
have  given  due  weight  and  influence  to  the  example  it  set  of  con- 
fidence in  the  financial  position  of  France,  and  open  the  way  to 
the  London  money  market.  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  who  per- 
fectly understood  this,  determined  to  travel  through  France,  in 
all  directions,  particularly  the  southern  part  of  that  country,  in 
order  to  learn  by  personal  observation  the  feeling  of  the  people, 
their  tax-bearing  capacity,  the  regularity  with  which  the  taxes 
were  paid  in.  It  was  just  after  his  return  from  this  tour,  that  we 
met  again  at  Paris. 

I  might  here  take  the  liberty  of  conducting  my  readers  back  to 
the  thread  of  my  own  wanderings  and  adventures,  did  I  not 
preserve  a  lively  recollection  of  the  promise  made  to  them  in  my 
preface  that  I  would  lay  before  them  some  hitherto  unrecorded 
traits  and  anecdotes  from  the  lives  of  some  of  the  remarkable 
characters  of  my  time,  with  whom,  I  had  an  opportunity  of 
personal  acquaintanceship,  and  likewise  to  analyze  for  them  some 
of  those  curious  events  which  I  had  a  better  chance  and  means 
of  observing  than  most  of  my  contemporaries.  A  peep  behind 
the  curtain  was  not,  at  that  time,  granted  to  every  one,  and  I 
have  survived  the  majority  of  those  to  whom  it  was  conceded. 
For  this  very  reason  I  consider  it  a  duty  to  leave  no  omissions  in 
my  narrative. 

The  financial  embarrassment  of  France,  at  that  time,  may  very 
probably  have  arisen  from  the  fact  that  the  stipulated  yearly 
contributions  demanded  a  sum  of  140  millions  of  francs,  and  the 
yearly  expense  of  maintaining  the  foreign  army  of  occupation 
reached  160  millions.  For  such  an  extraordinary  burthen  as  this, 
which  France  had  heaped  upon  her  shoulders,  all  means  were 
lacking.  An  interruption,  if  not  stoppage  of  payment,  was 
unavoidable,  and  as  will  be  afterwards  seen,  it  did  not  fail  to 


264  SCHEME  OF  OUVRARD 

come.  The  man  who  possessed  the  unconditional  confidence  of 
all  crowned  heads  was  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  the  first 
deficiency  of  the  required  funds  awakened  his  dissatisfaction  ;  or, 
rather,  his  very  deepest  anxiety.  All  applications  for  loans, 
which  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  make  in  a  measure  corres- 
ponding with  the  extent  of  actual  necessities,  were  fruitless. 
Curvetto,  the  minister  of  Finance,  reaped  the  bitter  experience  that 
he  could  get  nothing  from  the  Paris  Bourse,  that  is  to  say,  from 
the  financiers  of  that  city,  for  no  one  offered  or  was  willing  to 
take  the  new  emission  of  State  paper.  After  Ouvrard  had 
secured  the  consent  and  co-operation  of  Messrs.  Baring  and 
Labouchere,  he  succeeded  in  persuading  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
that  all  difficulty  in  procuring  means  to  support  the  foreign  troops 
must  cease,  whenever  the  Allied  Powers  would  come  to  an 
understanding  to  accept  French  State  paper  in  payment  for  the 
expenditure  occasioned  them,  and  then  sell  the  same  paper 
through  their  own  confidential  agents, — a  position  for  which  he 
proposed  his  friends  Messrs.  Baring  &  Hope.  That  these  houses* 
possessed  the  means  of  making  advances,  on  account  of  this  State 
paper,  until  the  favorable  moment  should  arrive  for  selling  it 
again,  could  not  be  doubted,  and  that  their  appearing  in  the 
matter  would  awaken  and  gradually  bring  back  the  confidence  of 
capitalists,  both  in  and  out  of  England,  could  be  predicted  with 
considerable  certainty,  and  that  the  maintenance  of  the  prices  of 
the  State  property,  the  power  to  sell  and  the  choice  of  the  moment 
when  to  do  so  should  be  intrusted  to  one  hand  alone,  was  per- 
fectly clear.  The  combined  strength  of  these  three  foundation 
pillars  of  the  whole  measure  did  not  escape  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, who,  up  to  that  time,  had  doubted  the  possibility  of  selling 
such  a  mass  of  French  State  paper,  under  the  guaranty  of  an 
English  house.  After  twenty-four  hours  delay  for  reflection,  one 
point  was  gained  ;  the  Duke,  fully  convinced  that  the  whole  pro- 
ject was  feasible,  assured  Ouvrard  that  he  had  no  doubt  whatever 
the  other  Powers  would  follow  his  example.  The  Duke  had 
conjectured  rightly.  After  a  brief  trip  to  London,  he  lodged  in 
military  fashion,  on  his  return,  at  Ouvrard's  own  house,  in  the 


TO  RELIEVE  THE  FRENCH  GOVERNMENT  205 

Champs  Elysees,  and  the  latter  in  compliance  with  his  request,  on 
January  8th,  1817,  gave  him  a  note  developing  and  unfolding  the 
whole  plan.  It  was  received  on  the  same  day  by  the  ambassadors 
of  all  the  Powers,  and  communicated  to  the  latter  by  express 
couriers.  Messrs.  Baring  &  Labouchere  had,  in  one  of  their  last 
communications,  declared  that  they  were  afraid  of  obstructing  the 
course  of  the  affair  by  their  interference,  and  would  therefore, 
keep  aloof  from  it  until  they  should  be  summoned  by  all  the 
interested  parties, — the  French  Ministry  and  the  Allied  Powers, — 
to  repair  to  Paris.  Ouvrard  had,  in  his  letters,  affirmed  that  the 
Due  de  Richelieu  and  Corvetto,  the  Minister  of  Finance  had, 
after  accepting  his  propositions,  jointly  requested  him  to  invite 
Messrs.  Baring  &  Labouchere  to  Paris.  The  result,  however, 
proved  the  incorrectness  of  this  declaration,  as  would  in  fact, 
appear  from  the  very  face  of  it,  since  Ouvrard  was  in  no  need  of 
any  request  of  the  kind,  being  too  much  interested  in  the  affair  to 
have  delayed  such  an  invitation.  It  is  certain  that  he  sent  his 
open  letter,  to  this  effect,  under  cover  to  the  French  Ambassador 
in  London,  the  Marquis  d'Osmond,  and  that  the  latter  thus  found 
himself  compelled  to  take  up  his  pen  and  confirm  the  invitation 
of  the  Due  de  Richelieu  to  the  two  gentlemen.  As  they  could 
not  now  have  any  further  doubt,  they  informed  Ouvrard  on 
January  14th,  1817,  that  they  would  be  in  Paris  within  a  week. 
When  they  did  arrive,  they  at  once  waited  upon  the  Due  de 
Richelieu,  without  letting  Ouvrard  know.  The  Due  was  taken 
by  surprise,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  declare  that  nothing  had  yet 
been  definitively  settled  upon,  and  that  he  had,  in  no  manner 
whatever,  authorized  Ouvrard  to  give  the  invitation  in  his  name. 
Ouvrard  was  now  summoned,  and  they  began  to  reproach  him. 
He  confessed  that  the  Due  was  right ;  "  But,"  he  added,  "  as  I 
knew  that  there  was  no  other  way  of  getting  you  to  come  here,  1 
resorted  to  this  method ;  however,  now  that  you  are  once  here,  in 
Paris,  I  will  pledge  myself,  that  you  succeed !"  I  am  indebted 
to  Mr.  Labouchere  himself  for  this  anecdote;  that  gentleman 
used  to  tell  it  over  with  evident  pleasure,  whenever  the  occasion 
to  do  so  offered.     Moreover,  Ouvrard  kept  his  word.     A  few 

12 


266  OF  ITS  EMBARRASSMENTS. 

days  afterwards,  when  Messrs.  Baring  and  Labouchere  expressed 
the  wish  to  purchase  the  French  Rentes  themselves,  rather  than 
to  act  as  salesmen  for  the  Allies,  a  contract  was  made  directly 
with  them  for  six  millions  of  Rentes,  or  120  millions  capital,  at 
53  francs  85  centimes,  whereby  the  government  was  enabled  to 
handle  the  sum  of  64,620,000  francs  towards  meeting  the  expenses 
of  the  foreign  troops.  Soon  afterwards,  a  further  contract  for 
30  millions  of  Rentes,  at  57  francs  51  centimes,  or  545,035,000 
francs  capital,  took  place  between  the  government  and  these 
gentlemen.  This  made  the  Rentes  rise  at  once,  to  64,  then  to 
68,  and  at  last  to  72  francs,  and  by  taking  68  for  the  average 
price,  the  speculators  won  nearly  8  millions  of  francs  by  their 
operation. 

The  reader  will  learn  with  regret,  that  Ouvrard,  himself,  to 
whom  the  whole  combination  was  owing,  and  who  had  been  the 
real  originator  of  this  immense  scheme,  as  well  as  the  agent  by 
whom  it  was  carried  into  operation,  to  the  relief  of  the  indescrib- 
able embarrassments  that  overwhelmed  the  French  Treasury,  by 
re-awakening  the  confidence  of  English  financiers,  and  attracting 
their  capital, — that  this  man,  I  say,  came  empty-handed  out  of  an 
affair  that  created  such  advantages  for  others.  When  the  first 
contract  was  concluded  with  Messrs.  Baring  &  Hope,  a  good 
amount  of  Rentes  was  made  over  to  him  at  the  same  price  of  53 
francs,  as  a  quittance  for  all  the  deliveries  made,  or  to  be  made 
by  him  to  the  Allied  Army  of  Occupation,  and  those  gentlemen 
had  in  consequence  of  this,  reserved  him  no  place  on  the  list  of 
their  subscribers.  But  the  French  Minister  of  War,  the  Due  de 
Feltre,  availed  himself  of  the  arrest  of  M.  Doumerc, — in  whose 
name  the  whole  business  of  supplies,  &c,  had  been  carried  on, — 
as  a  pretext  for  refusing  to  sign  this  arrangement ;  the  govern- 
ment, he  said  was  defrauded  by  the  sudden  rise  of  the  Rentes, 
and  all  that  Ouvrard  could  do,  or  say,  to  change  his  resolution, 
was  of  no  avail.  It  really  seems  as  though  fate  had  decreed  that 
this  extraordinary  man  should  be  left  dangling  to  the  long  chain 
of  his  financial  entanglements,  and  yet,  he  invariably  rose  to  the 
surface  again,  as  the  indispensable  person  wh:>  had  to  extend  a 


PROFITLESS  TO  HIMSELF.  267 

helping  hand  to  every  government  from  the  commencement  of 
the  Empire,  up  to  the  termination  of  the  Bourbon  regime.  He 
was,  in  his  career,  a  living  example  of  the  words  which  Lessing 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  Countess  Orsina,  in  his  Emilia  Galotti : 
"  Let  the  Evil  One  get  hold  on  you,  but  by  a  hair,  and  you  are 
hh,  forever !" 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  BATTLEFIELD  OF  WATERLOO.— THE  COTTON-MARKET.— 
FRANCIS  BARING.— REMODELLING  OF  THE  BARINGS'  ESTAB- 
LISHMENT. 

Departure  from  Paris — Brussels — Visit  to  the  Field  of  Waterloo — Costa, 
Napoleon's  Guide,  becomes  mine — A  short  visit  to  Hamburgh  and  England, 
on  my  way  back  to  the  United  States — Embarkation  at  Liverpool — Pit- 
cairn,  the  former  American  Consul  at  Hamburgh,  with  his  newly-married 
Daughter  and  Son-in-Law,  are  my  travelling  Companions — The  first  Heart 
outpouring  of  the  fond  wedded  pair,  upon  our  arrival  at  New  York — Jour- 
ney overland  to  New  Orleans — The  Scotch  Houses  in  New  Orleans — Their 
policy  on  the  Cotton  Market,  and  mine — Trip  to  Europe  in  the  Summer 
of  1819 — The  Congress  at  Aix,  in  1818 — Crisis  in  the  Money  Market — 
Berenbrook,  the  Dutch  Speculator  in  Funds — Alexander  Baring  rescues  the 
Paris  Money  Market  from  the  consequences  of  the  Crisis — Enormous  Busi- 
ness of  my  House  in  New  Orleans — Its  preponderance  in  the  Cotton-Mar- 
ket— Arrival  of  Mr.  Francis  Baring,  then  the  Junior,  now  the  Senior  Partner 
of  the  London  House  at  New  Orleans — Sketch  of  some  of  that  gentleman's 
peculiar  Traits  of  Character — Death  of  Mr.  S.  C.  Holland — Remodelling 
of  the  Baring  House — Entry  of  Mr.  Joshua  Bates  into  it. 

I  now  return  from  this  digression  to  my  own  history,  the 
thread  of  which  left  me  at  Paris  with  Mr.  Alexander  Baring. 
Busied  with  my  preparations  for  a  speedy  return  to  America,  I 
took  my  leave  of  this  remarkable  man,  and  departed  to  pay  my 
friends  at  Hamburgh,  and  my  parents  at  Ratzeburg  a  short  visit, 
before  leaving  the  continent  of  Europe.  My  road  lay,  as  usual, 
through  Brussels,  which,  only  a  few  months  previously,  had  been 
the  very  centre  around  which  thundered  all  the  martial  tumult, 
where  the  political  fate  of  the  continent  was  fought  for  and  decided. 
Nine  months  had  now  elapsed  since  the  battle  of  Waterloo  had 


THE  FIELD  OF  WATERLOO.  269 

settled  this  great  question.  On  the  very  day  after  my  arrival 
at  Brussels,  I  had  a  chance  to  visit  the  field  of  battle.  A  fortu- 
nate chance  brought  me  for  a  cicerone,  the  same  peasant,  Costa, 
whom  Napoleon  found  at  Charleroi,  on  the  evening  before  the 
battle,  and  took  with  him  to  his  head-quarters  as  a  guide.  All 
the  different  narratives  of  the  battle  which  I  had  collected  and 
read,  the  plans  and  maps  I  had  carefully  studied,  and  a  panoramic 
view  of  the  field  I  had  procured  in  London,  had  stamped  them- 
selves so  vividly  on  my  memory,  that  I  had  scarcely  reached  the 
scene,  and  alighted  from  my  vehicle,  ere  I  found  myself  quite  at 
home.  Not  a  hillock,  not  an  unevenness  of  the  ground,  not  a 
clump  of  trees,  not  a  hamlet  in  the  neighborhood,  or  far  away, 
that  I  had  not  named  at  the  first  glance.  Costa,  who  had  to  keep 
the  description  he  had  learned  by  heart,  to  himself,  at  length 
remarked  that  1  did  not  require  his  services,  if,  as  he  was  led  to 
suppose,  I  had  myself  been  present  at  the  battle.  I  acquainted 
him  with  the  truth,  and  greatly  enjoyed  his  contradictory  an- 
swers, when  I  questioned  him  in  regard  to  certain  points  of  detail. 
Thus,  for  instance,  I  found  myself  much  more  at  home  than  he 
was,  in  the  Castle  of  Hougoumont  and  its  garden,  where  the  marks 
of  destruction  were  still  so  distinctly  visible,  for  he  had  been 
beside  the  emperor  all  day,  until  the  hero  of  the  age  was,  for  the 
second  time,  compelled  to  seek  safety  in  flight.  When  Costa  — 
this  was  his  own  story — having  been  placed  among  Napoleon's 
staff,  rode  with  him  into  the  first  fire  of  the  English  batteries,  he 
laid  himself  with  his  whole  body  lengthwise  and  as  close  to  the 
animal  as  he  could  cling,  upon  his  horse's  back,  so  that  the  ene- 
my's balls  might  not  hit  him.  When  Napoleon  saw  this,  he 
called  to  him  with  a  smile.  "  Get  up,  you  silly  fellow !  you  can- 
not avoid  the  ball  that  is  destined  to  strike  you,  no  matter  how 
you  try  to  do  so!"  "And  he  was  right!"  added  Costa,  "for 
here  I  am,  you  see."  From  the  causeway  of  La  Haye  Sainte, 
we  rode  along  a  hollow,  sheltered  on  either  side  by  hills.  I  here 
asked  my  guide,  if  this  were  not  the  spot  from  which  Napoleon 
observed  the  last  onset  of  his  guards  and  cuirassiers,  under  Ney. 
"  You  are  on  the  very  ground  !"  he  said,  "  it  was  precisely  here!" 
I  then  asked,   "What  did  he  say1?  what  did  he  do?"     "Not 


270  VOYAGE  TO  NEW  YORK. 

much  !"  rejoined  Costa,  "  he  looked  once  more  through  his  field- 
glass,  then  he  said  :  '  They  are  in  confusion — all  is  over — let  us 
go  !'  "  We  then  took  the  track  right  across  the  field  to  Charleroi, 
dashing  along  as  fast  as  our  beasts  could  go,  and  when  we  reached 
the  place,  an  aide-de-camp  flung  me  a  double  Napoleon,  with  the 
words :  'To  the  d— 1  with  you  !'  or  something  worse." 

In  Hamburgh  I  found  all  my  early  friends,  with  few  exceptions, 
and  at  Ratzeburg  my  parents  met  me  in  good  health,  contented 
and  happy.  After  opening  the  way  to  some  business  connections, 
I  again  set  out  for  England,  where  some  consultations  in  regard 
to  a  definite  understanding  respecting  the  foundation  of  future 
business  combinations,  rendered  a  brief  delay  necessary,  for  the 
time  had  at  length  arrived,  when  I  could  step  forward  as  an  inde- 
pendent merchant,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  and  take  my 
place  on  the  stage  of  the  commercial  world,  whose  central  point 
was,  at  that  time,  more  than  ever  before,  in  the  English  money- 
market.  In  consequence  of  the  war  between  the  United  States 
and  England,  more  than  four  years  of  my  life  were  sacrificed,  ex- 
actly at  the  time  when  my  activity  should  have  developed  itself, 
and  the  gradual  return  to  that  extended  commerce  from  which 
the  European  continent  was  shut  out  for  so  many  years,  and  of 
which  the  mercantile  classes  had  already  availed  themselves  for 
about  eleven  months,  namely,  from  April  1814  up  to  March  1815, 
remained,  during  that  time,  a  sealed  book  to  the  American  mer- 
chant. Hence,  there  was  created  a  gap  in  the  experience  of  the 
latter,  which  could  not  be  filled  by  ordinary  minds,  and  much 
striking  in  the  dark  was,  consequently,  unavoidable.  The  first 
idea  of  a  regular  line  of  packets,  to  run  between  New  York  and 
Liverpool,  once  every  month — a  passage  now  made  by  vessels 
sailing  every  five  days — had  not  yet  been  put  in  execution,  and  I 
was  compelled  to  embark  on  a  merchant  craft,  the  Minerva  Smith, 
for  New  York.  The  voyage  lasted  for  the  unusually  long  period 
of  fifty-seven  days.  Among  the  passengers  was  the  former  Ame- 
rican Consul  at  Hamburgh,  a  Mr.  Pitcairn,  who  was  accompany- 
ing his  newly-married  daughter*  and  her  husband  to  America. 

*  The  mother  of  this  young  lady  was  the  celebrated  Pamela,  the  second 
foster-daughter  of  Madame  de  Genlis,  who  had  married  the  Irish  rebel,  Lord 


A  SEA-SIOK  HONEYMOON.  271 

A  doub'e  application  of  the  words  "  newly-married,"  may  be 
allowed  me  here,  since  the  young  couple  had  been  joined  in  wed- 
lock, on  Saturday,  at  Edinburg,  and,  immediately  after  the  repast 
usual  there  on  such  occasions — every  one  knows  what  a  Scotch 
breakfast  is — had  started  with  post-horses  for  Glasgow,  and  hav- 
ing there  learned  that  the  ship  on  which  they  intended  to  embark, 
would  sail  on  Monday,  continued  their  journey  to  Liverpool  with- 
out stopping  even  over  night,  and  had  gone  immediately  on  board 
on  Monday  afternoon.  About  two  o'clock,we  put  out  to  sea.  The 
young  couple  at  once  attacked  with  sea-sickness,  retired  to  their 
stateroom,  and  the  overflow  of  their  affection  was  lost  in  the  nausea 
of  the  sea,  for  during  the  whole  long  voyage  they  did  not  show 
themselves  again.  It  was  only  when  we  had  arrived  off  the  coast 
of  New  Jersey,  and  took  on  board  a  pilot,  and  were  leaving  the 
Sandy  Hook  lighthouse,  at  the  entrance  of  New  York  harbor, 
behind  us,  that  they  once  more  appeared  on  deck.  The  young 
bride,  intoxicated  with  delight,  sat  down  near  the  cabin  stairs,  her 
husband  followed  her,  and  when  he  got  near  enough  she  flung  her 
arms  about  his  neck  and  exclaimed,  with  an  expression  of  deep 

longing :   "  Ah,  dear  S ,  (I  omit  the  name  purposely),  how 

happy  it  would  make  me  now,  if  I  only  had  a  slice  of  fine  Ham- 
burgh bread,  with  fresh  May  butter,  and  a  morsel  of  Brunswick 
sausage !"  That  the  joys  of  the  honeymoon,  passed  at  sea,  could 
concentrate  themselves  in  such  a  wish,  occasioned  me  some  little 
surprise,  which  my  readers  may  share,  when  I  assure  them  that 
in  this  instance,  as  in  all  others,  my  narrative  is  but  the  mirror 
of  historical  truth,  and  not  the  channel  of  fiction.  When  Goethe 
wrote  the  words :  "  A  spectacle  for  gods,  to  see  two  loving  ones !" 
he,  most  assuredly,  did  not  embrace  either  the  beginning  or  the 
end  of  the  sea-voyage  these  two  "  loving  ones  "  made,  in  his  keen 
poetic  view. 

I  did  not  remain  long  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  upon  this 
occasion.  1  determined  to  travel  through  Virginia  in  every  direc- 
tion, so  as  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  tobacco 
crops  there,  and  traversed  the  so-called  Kentucky  wilderness  to 

Edward  Fitzgerald,  and,  after  his  death  in  prison,  at  Dublin,  had  fled  to 
Hamburgh,  where  she  became  acquainted  with  Pitcairn. 


£?2  SCOTCH  HOUSES  IN  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Nashville,  in  the  state  of  Tennessee,  from  that  place  to  Huntsville, 
and  thence  back  again  to  Nashville  and  Kentucky,  embarking,  at 
Louisville,  on  board  of  a  newly-constructed  steamboat  for  New 
Orleans,  where  I  once  more  found  my  partner,  enjoying  good 
health,  after  an  absence,  on  my  part,  of  nearly  two  years.  During 
this  interval  several  Scotch  houses  had  been  established  in  that 
city,  having  opened  there  wTith  large  assortments  of  manufactured 
goods,  whose  proceeds  they  had  expended  in  the  purchase  of  cot- 
ton. This  trade  continued.  One  of  the  most  respectable  of  those 
who  had  previously  lived  in  the  city,  himself  of  Scottish  origin, 
but  born  at  New  Orleans,  and  formerly  a  ship-captain,  Thomas 
Urquhart  by  name,  who  had  visited  the  land  of  his  parents,  and 
long  resided  at  Glasgow,  gradually  opened  the  way  for  these  es- 
tablishments to  extensive  credit,  by  his  exaggerated  account  of 
their  boundless  means,  and  in  this  way  they  found  themselves 
enabled  to  employ  their  bills  on  England,  and  proceed  with  their 
purchases  of  cotton.  These  representatives  of  the  Scotch  houses 
transacted  business  on  a  systematic  plan,  arising  more  out  of  an  in- 
stinctive feeling  of  their  common  interest  than  from  any  regular 
arrangement  entered  into  between  them,  and  endeavored  to  bring 
down  the  price  of  cotton,  and  keep  purchasers  aloof,  by  circulating 
unfavorable  news  concerning  the  posture  of  the  factories  at  Man- 
chester and  Glasgow,  and  the  lack  of  demand  for  spun  yarn. 
When  orders,  at  fixed  or  unlimited  prices,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  few  commission  houses  then  established  at  New  Orleans,  they 
had  to  be  filled  at  all  events,  and  these  manoeuvres  were  of  little 
avail ;  but  in  every  other  case,  where  a  suddenly  awakened  spirit 
of  enterprise  raised  its  head,  or  where  returns  were  to  be  made  to 
Europe  for  goods,  they  managed  to  work  upon  the  market,  and 
in  many  instances  to  frighten  off  intended  buyers.  Excepting 
these  branches  of  Scotch  houses,  no  one  in  New  Orleans  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  English  cotton  market  as  it  really  was,  and  the 
Havre  market,  which  subsequently  became  so  important,  was 
then  in  its  cradle.  But  the  credit  which  these  branches  procured 
abroad,  at  New  Orleans,  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  other  ports 
of  the  United  States,  was  not  always  well  deserved.  Their  capi- 
tal was  usually  borrowed,  on  three  or  four  signatures,  from  the 


MY  PARTNER,  HOLLANDER.  273 

banks,  through  the  influence  of  the  central  capitalists  in  Glasgow. 
The  nine  and  twelve  months  notes  given  in  return  were,  every 
time  they  fell  due,  renewed,  for  a  moderate  payment  of  interest, 
and  thus,  by  means  of  fictitious  capital,  a  competition  was  kept  up 
for  years  in  the  foreign  markets,  whose  origin  was  owing,  not  to 
any  natural  relation  between  production  and  consumption,  but  to 
mere  speculation  alone.  The  young  men,  who  were  sent  out 
from  Scotland  to  carry  on  this  business,  were,  generally,  men 
without  means,  but  intelligent,  to  whom  a  share  of  the  profits  was 
allowed,  as  a  reward  for  their  exertions,  under  the  condition  that 
they  should  bear  the  pro  rata  of  interest  accruing  on  their  quota 
of  the  money  made.  This  figured  as  theirs*  article  on  the  debit 
side  of  their  account  current  books,  while  on  the  credit  side  they 
were  at  liberty  to  note  the  profit  ^ot  yet  realized.  In  case  the  busi 
ness  lost,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  instead  of  gaining,  the  debtor 
liability  of  the  original  interests  embarked  was  increased  by  the 
respective  shares  of  the  computed  loss,  and  the  agents,  thus  hav 
ing  to  look  to  the  principal  of  the  house,  were  obliged  to  remain 
satisfied  with  the  honor  of  seeing  their  names  in  the  firm,  and  yet 
usually  remained  indebted  to  the  central  house.  I  have,  in  the 
course  of  my  life,  known  several  meritorious  young  men,  from 
Scotland,  who  were  destined  to  remain  for  long  years  the  victims 
of  this  cheap  and  convenient  method  of  securing  effective  and 
faithful  agent-clerks. 

My  partner  Hollander  had  no  experience  in  these  things,  usually 
paid  very  little  attention  to  what  was  passing  around  him,  and 
was  prone  to  the  error  of  taking  every  man  to  be  honest  until  he 
had  proof  to  the  contrary — a  very  costly  system  to  go  upon  in  a 
region  such  as  Louisiana  was  at  that  time.  This  sort  of  proof, 
too,  is  seldom  obtained  without  having  first  been  paid  for,  that  is 
to  say,  by  one's  own  experience.  Hence,  in  America,  as  well  as 
in  Paris,  the  best  and  least  expensive  rule  is  to  prefer  proven 
honesty  to  a  mere  reputation  for  the  possession  of  that  virtue. 
My  companion,  a  most  honorable  man,  who  never  allowed  an  un- 
worthy thought  to  arise  in  his  own  mind,  could  not  presume  the 
existence  of  base  motives  in  others,  whom  he  looked  upon  as 
friends ;  and  hence  it  was,  that  in  the  discretionary  orders  for  cot 

12* 


274  OPERATIONS  IN  COTTON. 

ton  my  house  received,  he  made  his  own  judgment  subordinate  to 
the  expressed  opinions  of  the  Scotch  agents  who  surrounded  him, 
and  whose  society  he  liked.  I  had  left  England  but  a  few  months 
previously,  and  having  foreseen  an  inevitable  rise  in  the  price  of 
cotton,  wrote  from  New  York,  as  I  soon  afterwards  repeated  from 
Louisiana,  that  it  would  be  advisable  to  lay  out  some  money  for 
cotton  on  our  account,  in  anticipation  of  this  rise.  My  letter  con- 
tained the  sentence,  "  Perhaps  later  advices  than  this  letter  con- 
tains may  have  arrived  direct  from  Liverpool,  and  they  must  not 
be  neglected  by  any  means."  The  contingency  thus  hinted  had 
really  occurred ;  the  later  advices — later  by  a  few  days — had  rep- 
resented the  Liverpool  market  as  flat,  but  prices  had  not  receded. 
Hollander  conferred  with  his  Scotch  friends,  and  they,  probably 
instructed  by  their  leading  houses  in  Scotland,  repeated  the  usual 
song,  and  declared  that  cotton  yarn  was  without  demand,  and  that 
he  ought  not  to  think  of  buying.  This  was  enough  for  Hollander, 
and  he  folded  his  arms.  When  I  arrived  my  first  inquiry  was, 
"  Have  we  been  buying  V  "  No !"  was  the  reply  ;  "  cotton  is  down 
in  the  English  manufacturing  towns,  and  the  English  houses  here 
are  not  moving."  It  was  only  when  T  remarked  that  a  local  rise  ot 
price  was  unavoidable,  if  we  waited  „o  hear  better  news  from  Liv- 
erpool before  touching  the  article,  that  my  associate  perceived  how 
he  had  sacrificed  his  own  judgment.  The  first  squad  of  cotton 
brokers  called  upon  me  on  the  morning  after  my  arrival.  Al- 
ready acquainted  with  the  nominal  prices,  I  asked  what  was  in  the 
market.  "  We  can  offer  you,"  said  the  brokers  Dubuys  &  Longer, 
"  two  boat-loads  of  the  best  planters'  marks,  from  the  Opelousas 
district,  at  sixteen  cents,  each  load  consisting  of  about  400  bales." 
I  examined  the  samples  they  had  brought,  the  quality  was  good, 
and  said  that  I  would  take  both  loads.  At  that  time  such  a  pur- 
chase was  sufficient  to  excite  remark,  and  the  so-called  English, 
but,  properly  speaking,  Scotch  houses,  were  full  of  curiosity  to 
know  the  man  who  could  venture,  against  their  notions,  to  make 
so  heavy  a  stride  into  the  market.  Two  days  afterwards  these 
gentlemen  began,  quietly,  to  make  certain  bargains  of  their  own, 
notwithstanding  the  discouraging  news  they  had  received  from 
"our  folks,"  as  they  called  the  leading  houses  at  home,  and  reg 


VISIT  EUROPE  AGAIN.  275 

ularly  continued  their  purchases  from  time  to  time.  The  ice  was 
broken,  and  my  Scottish  neighbors  were  speedily  convinced  that 
every  attempt  to  make  me  dance  to  their  music  would  signally 
fail.  My  position  in  the  cotton  market  now  became,  step  by  step, 
more  influential ;  whether  I  would  buy,  and  when,  or  how,  was, 
for  many  years  afterwards,  a  matter  of  calculation  which  my  com- 
petitors could  not  leave  out  of  sight,  and  which  often  led  them 
into  false  conclusions. 

In  the  year  1818,  my  house  was  the  first  that  sent  out  printed 
advices  in  relation  to  the  eventualities  of  the  cotton  market  and 
the  crops.  The  meteorological  weather  tables  had  given  me  the 
idea  of  getting  up  one  similar  to  them,  which  should  exhibit  the 
course  and  fluctuations  of  prices,  from  week  to  week,  during  the 
shipping  period  of  three  successive  years,  and  designate  the  differ- 
ence of  exchange,  each  time,  by  black,  red,  and  blue  lines.  These 
new  tables  were  very  successful,  particularly  among  the  French 
speculators  in  cotton, .and  led  to  many  commissions  from  Havre, 
Rouen,  and  Switzerland. 

In  the  summer  of  1819,  I  again  visited  Europe.  It  was  for 
both  the  commercial  and  political  relations  of  that  continent,  an 
epoch  of  the  greatest  interest,  when  business  had  just  begun  to 
recover  from  the  consequences  of  the  crisis  that  had  arisen  during 
the  preceding  year.  France,  at  least,  had,  through  the  loan  of 
27,238,938  francs,  5  per  cent,  rente  decided  upon  by  the  congress 
of  crowned  heads  at  Aix,  and  taken  by  the  Barings  at  67  francs, 
freed  herself  from  the  burthen  of  the  sanitary  cordon,  which  the 
leaders  of  the  holy  alliance,  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria,  had 
in I : ended  to  maintain,  for  five  years,  along  the  northern  and  north- 
eastern frontiers  of  France,  with  an  army  of  50,000  men,  each. 
But  the  Paris  Bourse  received  some  severe  blows,  by  the  fall  of 
the  State  paper  from  67  to  58,  and  was  indebted  for  its  rescue 
only  to  the  coolness  of  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  as  I  have  elsewhere 
related.* 

Besides  the  fall  of  30  per  cent,  in  the  price  of  goods,  and  the 
sudden  reduction  that  succeeded  it  of  four  millions  of  pounds  ster- 

*  In  No.  24,  of  the  "  Deutschen  Freihafen,"  for  1848.  See  my  article  on 
"  Lord  Ashhurton  nnd  the  Baring  house  at  London." 


278  FINANCIAL  OPERATIONS. 

ling,  in  the  English  paper  circulation,  on  the  part  of  the  London 
Dank,  it  was  the  mad  enterprises  of  sundry  speculators  in  the 
funds  in  London,  and  particularly  at  Paris,  that  opened  the  way 
to  the  crisis  of  that  time.  For  an  example,  I  need  refer  only  to 
the  Hollander  Berenbrock,  from  Amsterdam,  who  possessed  a 
capital  of  perhaps  half  a  million  of  francs,  and  had  purchased  five 
millions  5  per  cent,  rentes,  or  one  hundred  millions  of  capital  on 
credit,  then,  as  a  millionaire,  had  procured  an  advance  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  or  two  hundred  thousand  francs  each,  from  seven 
or  eight  bankers,  and  in  this  way  paid  up  his  interest  for  several 
months  in  succession,  calculating  that  a  rise  in  the  rentes  of  1  per 
cent,  would  make  him  a  million  better ;  of  2  per  cent,  two  mil- 
lions, and  so  on  ; — but  the  funds  fell  more  than  8  per  cent.,  and 
Berenbrock  remained  nearly  eight  millions  in  debt  to  the  Paris 
bankers  and  "  agents  de  change."  The  Bourse  was  full  of  similar 
speculators,  even  if  all  of  them  did  not  give  their  enterprises  the 
same  extension :  and  it  may  readily  be  imagined  what  an  effect 
large  sales  of  rentes,  following  each  other  in  rapid  succession, 
must  necessarily  exercise  upon  its  currency  on  change.  The  loan 
taken  by  Messrs.  Baring  &  Co.  was  concluded  in  two  portions — 
one  of  14,925,500  francs,  at  66  francs  50  centimes,  and  the  other 
of  12,313,438  francs,  at  67.  The  rente  fell  to  58  francs  before 
the  contracting  parties  had  the  last  portion  in  their  hands.  The 
whole  Paris  Bourse  was  violently  agitated — the  contractors  saw 
that,  under  such  circumstances,  the  strength  was  lacking  to  sus- 
tain so  heavy  an  emission  of  State  paper,  and  that  there  would  be 
any  number  of  failures  in  case  a  further  sum  of  two  hundred  and 
forty-six  millions  were  put  in  circulation.  Thus,  pretty  nearly 
every  one  lost  all  presence  of  mind;  but  Mr.  Alexander  Baring 
retained  his.  He  persuaded  the  Duke  de  Richelieu  to  annul  the 
contract  for  the  last  half  of  the  loan,  and  likewise  prevailed  upon 
the  bankers  associated  with  him  to  relinquish  it,  on  their  part. 
Yet,  it  was  not  merely  his  powers  of  persuasion  that  brought 
about  this  result.  The  majority  of  the  ministers  of  the  allied 
powers,  present  at  Aix — Mettemich,  Nesselrode,  Hardenberg, 
and  others — had  desired  to  participate  in  the  loan,  and  there  had 
been  an  understanding  to  that  effect.     When  the  rente  fell,  Mr. 


SAIL  FOR  NEW  ORLEANS.  277 

Baring  desired  that  they  should  make  their  payments  them- 
selves, but  they  lacked  the  means — they  had  counted  upon  the 
profits  and  not  upon  the  risks  of  the  venture.  A  hint  was  then 
thrown  out  that  they  should  be  released  from  their  obligations,  if 
they  could  prevail  upon  the  Due  de  Richelieu  to  accede  to  the 
measure  I  have  mentioned.  The  Congress  of  Plenipotentiaries 
bade  and  Richelieu  obeyed. 

The  sudden  reduction  by  the  London  Bank  of  four  millions 
of  pounds  sterling,  in  the  English  paper  circulation,  had  given  the 
first  blow  to  the  prices  of  goods  in  the  commercial  market.  The 
rapid  and  progressive  extension  of  trade,  upon  the  re-opening  of 
its  channels  after  the  year  1815,  had  given  rise  to  a  certain  dis- 
proportion between  the  general  consumption  and  the  requisite 
supplies  :  the  origin  of  this  disproportion  lay  chiefly  in  the  want 
of  accurate  knowledge  respecting  the  nature  and  extent  of  these 
two  elements  of  commerce.  The  rapidly  returning  and  daily 
increasing  prosperity  of  trade  had  manifested  a  continually  upward 
tendency  for  two  years  and  a  half— and  thus  the  turning  point  had 
been  nearly  approached,  where  that  inevitable  reaction  must 
begin,  which  human  affairs  cannot  always  escape  ;  but  people  had 
not  yet  discovered  the  method  of  establishing  a  balance  between 
consumption  and  the  eventualities  of  production  and  supply. 

This  was  the  posture  of  the  European  market,  when,  after  pass- 
ing  the  winter  of  1819-20  at  Paris,  I  again  embarked  in  March,  of 
the  latter  year,  at  Bordeaux,  on  board  of  the  French  vessel  "  La 
J  eune  Corinne,"  direct  for  New  Orleans. 

The  business  of  my  house  had  very  importantly  increased.  In 
opposition  to  the  six,  seven,  or  eight  thousand  bales  of  cotton, 
which  most  of  the  houses  in  that  city,  styling  themselves  first  class, 
used  to  purchase,  my  quota  was  seldom  less  than  sixteen  or 
eighteen  thousand  bales,  which  occasioned  the  transfer  from  hand 
to  hand  of  at  least  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  within  a  few 
weeks.  The  season  of  1820-21  was  a  particularly  successful  one 
for  my  house.  The  most  important  commissions  from  France 
were,  through  the  activity  of  our  agents,  concentrated  in  our 
hands,  while  the  orders  coming  in  from  England,  in  addition  to 
the  business  intrusted  to  us  from  the  northern  states  of  the  Ameri- 


278  THE  COTTON  MARKET. 

can  Union,  had  very  considerably  increased  our  purchases.  As  I 
was  in  a  situation  to  calculate  the  general  posture  of  things  with 
considerable  accuracy,  and  had,  especially,  noticed  that  the  Eng- 
lish consumers  would  not  give  up  their  idea,  of  the  imposing  in- 
fluence of  Liverpool  prices  on  the  American  cotton  market,  and 
would  not  hear  of  the  independence  and  self-reliance  of  the  French, 
or  rather  Havre  market,  which  several  of  the  houses  in  the  latter 
port  were,  in  their  fancied  importance  striving  to  make  a  marche 
regulateur ;  and  that  the  cypher  of  English  commissions,  given 
under  the  anticipation  of  a  heavy  demand,  might  unavoidably  re- 
main far  behind  the  prices  they  were  inclined  to  pay  in  France, 
my  course  appeared  to  be  plainly  enough  marked  out,  not  only 
to  open  our  market  with  a  firm  hand,  but  likewise  to  control  it, 
so  long  as  the  mass  of  my  commissions  might  authorize  such  a 
position.  The  policy  of  this  initiative  was,  as  may  be  seen,  forced 
upon  me  by  circumstances,  unless  I  was  willing  to  yield  the  pre- 
cedence to  the  coalition  of  Scottish  houses,  and  then  follow  in  their 
wake,  as  an  imitator  and  dependent.  My  requirements  were 
altogether  too  important  and  continual  to  permit  my  appearing  in 
the  market  simultaneously  with  them,  and  performing  the  part  of 
a  usual  competitor,  which  would,  moreover,  have  been  impossible, 
without  occasioning  a  ri&v*.  in  prices,  and  would  so  have  restricted 
my  sphere  of  operations.  The  state  of  uncertainty  in  which  my 
Scotch  neighbors  remained,  touching  my  means  for  buying,  also 
assisted  me.  They  had  been  accustomed  to  collect  and  prepare 
their  resources  for  making  purchases  about  the  close  of  summer, 
and  during  the  autumn  months,  and  were  aided  in  their  opera- 
tions by  remittances  of  silver  from  the  neighboring  branches  of 
their  head  firms,  established  at  Jamaica  and  in  Mexico.  Thus  it 
was  prettily  accurately  known  in  the  bank  that  they  had  money 
ready,  in  sufficient  amount  at  least  to  pay  for  the  first  important 
purchases,  and  in  this  way  they  had  acquired  a  certain  preponderance 
in  the  cotton  market.  It  will  not  be  forgotten  that  I  am  here 
speaking  of  a  period  when  the  American  cotton  crops  were  very 
far  behind  the  immense  development  they  have  since  attained — 
amounting,  in  1823,  to  700,000  bales,  and,  in  1851,  to  3,100,000 
— and  that  the  chief  demand  for  the  article  was  intrusted  to  but 


THE  COTTON  MARKET.  279 

it-T  hands,  the  most  of  foreign,  even  of  English  nouses,  concen- 
trating their  orders  in  ray  establishment.  The  Scotch  houses, 
four  in  number,  were  rather  speculators  for  the  account  of  their 
principals,  than  the  agents  of  English  manufactories,  or  other  cor- 
respondents. As  I  have  already  remarked,  the  resources  of  these 
houses  could  be  in  some  measure  calculated,  but  of  mine  no  one 
could  form  any  correct  estimate.  My  competitors  indulged  in 
the  delusion  that  these  means  must  be  limited,  and  would  soon  be 
exhausted,  as  they  had  not  been  able  to  see  or  hear  of  any  prepa- 
ration beforehand.  They  thought  they  could  impose  upon  all 
parties  by  assuming  a  commanding  attitude,  and  so  depress  the 
market  at  pleasure,  by  merely  abstaining  from  making  their  pur- 
chases. I  was  contented  with  being  forgotten,  and  consequently 
kept  my  bank  credit  a  secret. 

The  earliest  batches  of  the  new  crop,  from  the  neighboring  dis- 
tricts of  Pointe  Coupee,  Fausse  Riviere,  Lafourche,  and  Baton 
Rouge,  regularly  came  into  the  hands  of  four  different  cotton 
brokers,  whom  I  will  designate  only  by  the  letters  A,  B,  C,  and 
D,  and  who  watched  each  other  with  the  greatest  jealousy.  The 
closing  price  of  the  last  crop  had  been  eighteen  cents,  and  it  was 
not  deemed  proper  to  take  less.  However,  the  planters  were 
anxious  to  receive  their  money  soon,  but  the  regular  houses  were 
shy,  and  held  back.  The  brokers  thereupon  came  repeatedly  to 
me.  I  spoke  of  fifteen,  and  at  the  farthest  sixteen  cents  for  the 
best  quality.  Finally,  A  offered  his  quantum  at  sixteen  cents,  if 
B  would  accede  to  the  same  terms.  So,  whenever  B  learned  from 
me  that  A  was  ready  to  sell  at  that  price,  then  he  declared  that 
he  would  not  hesitate  to  do  the  same  thing.  I  thereupon  made 
an  appointment  to  meet  both  these  gentlemen  the  next  morn- 
ing, at  the  well-known  cotton-press  of  Rillieux,  and  even  pre- 
vailed upon  C  and  D  to  come.  These  four  gentlemen  were  true 
to  the  rendezvous,  and  I  desired  A  and  B  to  fulfil  their  promise. 
They  did  so ;  and,  owing  to  the  anxiety  of  the  owners  to  realize 
the  price  of  their  cotton,  it  was  not  difficult  to  coax  C  and  D  to 
the  same  terms.  Thus  the  whole  quantity,  viz.,  2,000  bales,  then 
in  the  market,  fell  into  my  hands,  and  the  market  was  instantly 
cleared.     Fresh  supplies  were  hurried  in  with  greater  speed  than 


280  OPERATIONS  IN  COTTON. 

ever,  for  the  planters  at  once  found  out  who  the  purchaser  was, 
and  learned  from  experience,  that  they  could  get  the  highest 
prices  from  me  that  circumstances  seemed  to  warrant.  They 
therefore  hastened  to  avail  themselves  of  a  price  which  went  so 
far  beyond  the  cost  of  production,  and  gave  them  such  considera- 
ble profit.  I  also  was  enabled  to  continue  my  purchases,  and  the 
pick  and  choice  of  the  new  supplies  fell  without  interruption  into 
my  hands.  If  I  frequently  held  back  from  purchasing,  and  had  no- 
ticed a  decline  of  prices,  I  still  followed  them,  and  in  their  fluctua- 
tions, between  fifteen  and  sixteen  cents,  always  maintained  a  po- 
sition where  I  was  ready  to  buy  at  any  moment.  In  short,  dur- 
ing the  most  active  shipping  season,  namely,  from  December 
until  the  end  of  March,  there  were  but  few  purchasers  who  could 
call  themselves  masters  of  any  considerable  quantity,  from  time 
to  time,  when  they  felt  disposed.  I  had  already  concluded  my 
purchases,  which  ran  up  to  no  less  a  quantity  than  40,000  bales, 
as  early  as  the  first  days  in  April,  when,  at  length,  a  serious  com- 
petition broke  forth,  which  called  for  sixteen  and  a  half  cents.  The 
shipments  of  my  house  were  by  this  time  completed,  had  nearly 
all  arrived,  and  been  advantageously  sold,  while  my  neighbors 
were  still  operating  in  New  Orleans.  The  result  of  this  anticipa- 
tion of  the  market  was  very  beneficial,  and  established  our  influ- 
ence with  planters,  as  well  as  with  our  neighbors  and  competitors. 
From  this  I  was  enabled  to  deduce  a  wholesome  lesson,  to  the 
effect  that  neither  combinations  nor  coalitions,  to  violently  raise 
or  lower  the  price  of  any  imported  article,  such  as  cotton,  can 
possibly  succeed,  since  it  is  not  given  to  human  foresight  to  an- 
ticipate and  count  up  every  circumstance  which  may  unex- 
pectedly overthrow  all  such  combinations.  How  much  I  would 
buy,  and  how  much  I  was  to  pay  for  it,  were  matters  that  must 
escape  all  the  foresight  of  my  competitors  ;  and  it  was  precisely 
because  they  had  tried  to  form  their  own  conclusions  in  this  re- 
spect, and  had  cast  their  conjectures  in  so  wrong  a  direction,  that 
it  was  so  easy  for  me  "  to  take  the  wind  out  of  their  sails,"  as  nau- 
tical Englishmen  would  say.  In  the  course  of  my  life  this  item 
of  experience  has  frequently  been  presented  to  me,  without  any 
participation,  on  my  ov  i  part,  as  my  readers  will  have  occasion 


Mil.  FRANCIS  BARING.  281 

to  perceive  hereafter,  until  at  last,  against  my  own  convictions, 
and  without  either  my  will  or  my  knowledge,  I  found  myself  in- 
volved in  a  combination  of  the  kind,  and  became  its  innocent 
victim. 

Just  at  this  very  time  the  present  head  of  the  Barings'  house, 
Mr.  Francis  Baring,  second  son  of  the  deceased  Lord  Ashburton, 
had  arrived  in  New  Orleans  from  Havana,  and  taken  his  quarters 
with  me  in  my  newly-built  residence.  We  had  nine  large  ves- 
sels receiving  cargo  at  that  moment,  and  he  was  evidently  grati- 
fied when  he  took  his  first  walk  along  the  so-called  Levee — the 
quay  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  in  front  of  the  town, 
where  vessels  load  and  unload  their  freight — and  saw  it  strown, 
from  the  upper  to  the  lower  suburb,  with  cotton  bales,  on  which 
were  stamped  the  marks  of  my  firm.  Nothing  could  have  given 
him  a  better  idea  of  our  activity,  and  he  seemed  to  be  pleased 
that  he  could  take  back  with  him  to  Europe  a  proof  of  it,  like  this 
one,  from  his  own  experience. 

Since  there  can  be  but  little  that  relates  to  this  establishment, 
which  occupies  and  has  occupied  so  lofty  a  position,  that  is  devoid 
of  all  interest  to  the  mercantile  reader,  I  may  venture  to  say  a  few 
words  concerning  Mr.  Baring,  who  was  quite  a  young  man  when 
he  visited  New  Orleans.  I  do  so  with  the  greater  reason,  that  he 
yields  a  proof  the  more  of  the  fact,  how  rarely  the  combination 
of  qualities  belonging  to  a  distinguished  father  descends  to  his 
sons.  Bountiful  nature  had  endowed  this  man,  destined  at  so 
early  a  period  of  life  to  become  the  head  and  manager  of  the  Lon- 
don house,  with  so  lavish  a  hand,  that  it  might  almost  be  termed 
spendthrift  profusion,  in  summing  up  the  list  of  capacities  and 
talents  he  possessed.  To  his  mental  wealth  belonged  most  unusual 
intellectual  superiority,  rare  keenness  of  perception,  and  an  almost 
instinctive  penetration  of  the  opposite  and  diverse  characters  with 
which  he  was  brought  in  contact ;  to  these  was  added  a  remarka- 
ble memory,  which  did  not  lose  the  minutest  circumstance;  an 
iron  strength  of  will,  whenever  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  per- 
form any  act ;  a  perseverance  in  carrying  out  his  enterprises,  not- 
withstanding every  obstacle  ;  and,  finally,  the  facility  of  expressing 
his  ideas  and  convictions  in  a  few  words,  and  the  knack  of  con- 


282  ANECDOTE  OF  FRANCIS  BARING. 

veying  the  whole  force  and  point  of  a  close  analysis,  or  criticism, 
in  a  happily  selected  phrase  or  two,  which  might  be  called  "  hit- 
ting the  nail  on  the  head."  This  latter  talent,  which  is  by  no 
means  an  indispensable  one,  in  the  list  of  perfections  desirable  for 
a  man  of  talent,  nevertheless  has  ite  value  in  dialectic  debates, 
particularly  on  the  parliamentary  floor,  where  young  Baring 
hoped  to  stand  before  any  great  length  of  time,  and  in  all  in- 
stances of  common  life  where  brief  and  rapid  explanations  are 
desirable.  An  example  will  suffice  to  illustrate  this  remark. 
Young  Baring  was  travelling  through  the  western  part  of  Vir- 
ginia, which  was  at  that  time  peopled  by  the  roughest  class  of 
Americans,  and  the  vehicle  he  used  was  a  very  handsome  and 
newly-varnished  travelling  carriage.  In  accordance  with  the 
favorite  custom  of  these  wild  fellows,  who  usually  carried  a  pen- 
knife or  a  nail  in  their  pockets,  one  of  the  idlers,  who  stood  and 
leaned  about  the  door  of  the  tavern,  where  he  had  alighted  for 
refreshment,  amused  himself  by  scratching,  with  a  nail,  all  sorts 
of  ridiculous  figures  on  the  varnish  of  the  carriage  doors.  Baring, 
who  came  out  of  the  inn,  and  caught  our  friend  engaged  in  this 
agreeable  and  polite  occupation,  the  instant  he  saw  what  was 
going  on,  very  sharply  expressed  his  disapprobation.  The  loiterer 
responded,  "  Look  here,  Sir,  don't  be  saucy  ;  we  make  no  cere- 
mony. T  'other  day  we  had  a  European  fellow  here,  like  your- 
self, who  was  mighty  saucy,  so  I  pulled  out  my  pistol  and  shot 
him  dead,  right  on  the  spot.  There  he  lies  !"  Baring  rejoined, 
in  the  coolest  manner  imaginable,  by  asking,  "  And  did  you  scalp 
him,  too  V*  The  American  was  so  struck  with  this,  and  felt  this 
reproach  upon  his  savage  rudeness  so  keenly,  that,  after  gazing 
at  Baring  suddenly  and  earnestly  for  a  moment  in  silence,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  By  God  !  Sir,  you  must  be  a  clever  fellow  !  let's  shake 
hands !"     It  would  not  have  been  easy  to  give  a  sharper  lesson. 

After  entering  the  house  of  his  father  and  grandfather,  where 
he  had  the  keen-sighted  S.  C.  Holland,  now  deceased,  at  his  elbow, 
the  creation  of  the  new  London  "  Alliance  Marine  Insurance  Com- 
pany," formed  his  debut.  He  came  to  an  understanding  on  that 
subject  with  the  Rothschilds,  and  a  most  successful  business  was 
the  result.     He  then  visited  Mexico,  where  he  fancied  he  had 


HIS  SPECULATIONS  IN  MEXICO.  283 

found  a  magic  wand,  one  wave  of  which  would  bring  him  in  a 
gain  of  two  millions  or  more.  The  city  of  Mexico  lies  in  the 
midst  of  a  small  lake  wiiose  shores  furnish  it  with  fruit,  vegetables, 
milk,  game,  and  other  articles  required  for  its  consumption.  It 
had  become  usual  to  assign  an  immense  value  to  these  lands  along 
the  lake  shore,  basing  the  estimate  upon  the  idea  of  their  being 
indispensable.  Young  Baring,  already  a  member  of  the  London 
House,  had  managed  to  quietly  ascertain  the  price  that  most  of 
the  owners  would  accept  for  this  important  property  and  had 
bought  it  all  up  together.  The  exact  sum  has  been  differently 
represented,  but  it  went  over  £200,000,  of  which  the  fifth  part 
had  to  be  paid  in  cash.  Baring  drew  a  single  bill  on  his  House 
for  £40,000,  at  three  days'  sight.  The  draft  quickly  reached 
London,  before  the  firm  had  the  least  knowledge  of  the  purpose 
for  which  it  had  been  drawn ;  yet,  it  was  the  true  hand-writing 
of  an  associate  of  the  House,  drawn  upon  it  by  him ;  thus  much 
was  evident  at  first  sight,  and  the  House  was  bound  to  pay. 
Notwithstanding  this,  Mr.  Holland,  the  gentleman  already  named 
as  a  member  of  the  establishment,  alarmed  at  the  sudden  appear- 
ance of  a  bill  for  such  a  sum,  rejected  it,  but  wrote  concerning  it 
to  the  father  of  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  who,  fortunately,  was  in 
England  at  "  La  Grange,"  his  country-seat,  about  sixty-five  Eng- 
lish miles  from  London.  He  at  once  declared  himself  personally 
responsible  for  all  obligations  entered  into  by  his  son,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  firm,  and  the  draft  was  paid.  The  whole  business  was 
disapproved  of,  as  it  naturally  had  to  be,  for  no  House  in  the 
world  could  find  it  convenient  to  bury  so  large  a  capital,  all  at 
once,  and  on  uncertain  time,  in  a  distant  part  of  the  globe.  And 
now  the  question  arose  how  they  were  to  extricate  themselves 
from  this  involvement.  They,  at  length,  managed  to  get  a  law 
passed  by  the  Mexican  Congress,  prohibiting  any  one,  who  was 
not  a  Mexican  by  birth,  and  did  not  reside  in  the  City  of  Mexico, 
from  owning  landed  property  within  a  certain  given  distance  of 
the  capital.  In  this  way,  the  whole  purchase  was  made  null  and 
void ;  they  made  up  their  minds  in  London  to  let  the  £40,000  go 
and  forget  all  about  it,  as  they  could  not  expect  to  procure  any 
reimbursement  from  those  who  had  sold  the  lands. 


284  SUGAR  SPECULATIONS. 

After  his  return  from  Mexico,  Francis  Baring  visited  Paris, 
where  he  came  in  contact  with  the  head  partner  of  the  firm  of 
Reid,  Irving  &  Co.,  which,  at  that  time,  although  very  undeserv- 
edly, as  the  sequel  has  shown,  stood  in  great  repute.  This  was  Mr. 
John  Irving,  who  had  one  of  the  most  narrow  business  minds  I 
have  ever  known ;  he  was  among  the  personal  friends  and  sup- 
porters of  another  Scotch  house  at  Havre,  the  Messrs.  Firebrace, 
Davidson  &  Co. ;  to  whom,  through  the  influence  of  the  London 
firm,  important  consignments  of  raw  sugar  were  sent  from  Gua- 
daloupe  and  Martinique.  By  the  Vienna  Treaty  of  1815,  these 
colonies,  as  every  one  knows,  were  restored  by  the  English  to 
France,  but,  as  they  had  been  in  English  possession  for  several 
years,  and  during  that  time  had  been  permitted  to  enjoy  equal 
privileges  with  the  Colonies  originally  belonging  to  Great  Britain, 
many  of  the  plantations  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  English  specu- 
lators, who  determined  to  remain  where  they  had  settled.  The 
consumption  of  sugar  in  France  is  almost  exclusively  based  upon 
the  production  of  these  two  islands ;  it  has,  of  course,  increased 
with  the  growth  of  population  in  France,  and  the  fact,  gradually, 
became  evident,  that  the  production  of  the  French  West  Indies, 
at  least  with  average  crops,  was  no  longer  sufficient  to  satisfy  the 
consumption,  however  confidently  the  legislators  of  France  may 
have  cherished  the  idea  that  the  stimulus  of  an  exclusive  admis- 
sion of  French  Colonial  sugars,  for  home  consumption,  would 
contribute  to  a  great  increase  of  that  production.  It  had  been 
calculated  that  the  8,000  or  10,000  casks  lying  in  the  French 
ports,  such  as  Havre,  Nantes,  Bordeaux,  and  Marseilles,  might 
be  simultaneously  bought  up  and  collected  in  one  single  hand, 
while,  by  means  of  orders  sent  off,  before  this  general  pur- 
chase, to  the  West  Indian  islands,  the  stock  then  disposable  at 
Martinique  and  Guadaloupe  might  also  be  got  hold  of  in  the  same 
way.  Such  a  scheme  was  planned  by  Messrs.  Firebrace,  David- 
son &  Co.  at  Havre,  and  backed  by  a  >series  of  calculations,  which 
made  it  palatable  to  Mr.  John  Irving ;  Mr.  Francis  Baring  was 
readily  allured  by  this,  and  when  it  was  communicated,  at  last,  to 
Mr.  James  Rothschild,  the  latter  declared  his  willingness  to  join 
in  the  plan  of  buying  up  all  the  sugar  in  France.     The  project 


FAILURE  OF  THE  OPERATIONS.  285 

was  accordingly  carried  into  execution ;  but,  when  they  came  to 
sell  again,  unforeseen  difficulties  arose.  The  French  sugar  refiners 
would  not  purchase  at  the  advanced  prices  any  more  than  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  keep  their  establishments  in  motion,  and 
during  the  delay  thus  occasioned,  it  came  out  that  the  colonies  of 
Martinique  and  Guadaloupe  could  send  much  more  sugar  into  the 
market  than  they  could  have  anticipated,  notwithstanding  the  cal- 
culations they  had  drawn  up  with  so  much  accuracy  and  care. 
What  had,  up  to  that  time,  been  known  but  by  few,  and  had 
always  been  kept  a  secret,  was  now  made  plain  to  everybody. 
As  the  markets  in  the  French  Colonies  began  to  rise,  the  mer- 
chants in  the  neighboring  English  Colonies  of  Barbadoes,  Anti- 
gua, etc.,  had  managed  to  send  a  part  of  their  supply  to  their 
French  neighbors  by  a  very  simple  and  easy  system  of  smug- 
gling; and  this  additional  quantity  was  shipped  and  carried 
to  France,  as  the  product  of  the  country.  Thus,  more  sugar 
came  in  than  was  required,  and  the  prices  could  not  be  main- 
tained. Messrs.  Firebrace,  Davidson  &  Co.,  who  had  made 
the  first  purchases  on  account  of  Messrs.  Baring,  Rothschild,  and 
Reid,  Irving  &  Co.,  had  been  allured  into  speculating  largely  on 
their  own  account,  and,  consequently,  bought  in  all  the  sugar  that 
was  to  be  had,  at  Bordeaux.  When  the  sudden  cessation  and 
decline  of  prices  began,  and  they  found  it  impossible  to  sell,  they 
were  obliged  to  suspend  payment,  and  made  over  the  8,000  or 
9,000  casks  of  sugar  they  had  bought  for  the  London  coalition  to 
the  house  of  Messrs.  Hottinguer  &  Co.  What  then  took  place  1 
Nothing  but  what,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  Havre  Bourse,  at 
that  time,  deserved  to  be  called  a  perfectly  legitimate  transaction. 
The  commission  houses  of  the  French  sugar  refineries,  at  Havre, 
secretly  concluded  upon  a  combined  purchase,  in  which  the  sellers 
were  quietly  to  retain  a  portion  for  themselves,  and  Mr.  Bourlet, 
the  head  of  the  Hottinguer  house,  who  had  a  particular  fondness 
for  purchases  "en  blocq,"  transferred  the  whole  quantity  to  a  sin- 
gle purchaser,  who  gave  his  name.  This  was  the  last  transaction 
that  Mr.  Francis-  Baring  went  into  on  his  own  authority. 

The  death  of  Mr.  S.  C.  Holland,  the  so-called  managing  partner, 
brought  about  in  1825,  a  change  in  the  organization  of  the  Baring 


286  ENTIRE  RECONSTRUCTION 

house.  At  first,  some  embarrassment  was  experienced  in  filling 
his  place  properly.  Mr.  J  oshua  Bates  of  Boston,  formerly  the 
London  agent  for  the  important  house  of  Mr.  William  Gray,  in 
Boston  and  Salem,  had,  a  couple  of  years  before  the  decease  of 
Mr.  Holland,  set  up  a  commission  house  in  company  with  John, 
the  third  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Baring,  Bart.,  under  the  firm  of 
Bates  &  Baring.  Bates,  who  had  long  been  known  and  respected 
by  his  fellow-citizens  in  Boston  and  in  Salem,  was  in  the  posses- 
sion of  a  London  business  which  required  greater  cash  and  credit 
means  than  the  young  house  could  control.  It  was  about  £20,000 
that  John  Baring  had  brought  into  the  firm,  and  it  was  said  that 
Bates  had  not  the  command  of  a  larger  sum.  The  character  and 
peculiar  mode  of  transacting  the  business  of  Mr.  Holland  had 
frightened  away  many  of  the  best  American  mercantile  connec- 
tions from  the  Baring  house.  He  had  only  one  measure  for  all 
the  American  houses,  without  distinction,  and  applied  the  same 
rule  to  each  and  every  one  of  them.  Houses  like  that  of  James 
and  Thomas  H.  Perkins,  in  Boston,  or  John  Jacob  Astor  at 
New  York,  whose  wealth  and  credit  were  undoubted,  and  who, 
through  mere  motives  of  convenience,  since  they  were  paying 
only  five  per  cent,  at  London,  while  money  was  worth  seven, 
eight,  and  ten  per  cent,  in  New  York,  used  to  leave  large  debits 
in  the  account-current  standing  for  some  time,  at  the  close  of  the 
year,  without  making  immediate  remittances  for  the  same,  were 
reminded  of  their  arrearage  on  the  book  in  postscripts  written  by 
Mr.  Holland,  himself,  and  usually  couched  in  very  sharp  lan- 
guage. Thus,  the  Messrs.  Barings  had  lost  among  many  others, 
Astor  as  a  correspondent,  and  similar  important  connections,  and 
by  this  means  were  frequently  compelled  to  let  superfluous 
capital  lie  idle,  which  might  otherwise  have  been  well  employed. 
Hence,  it  was  wise  policy  on  the  part  of  this  house,  to  follow  the 
counsel  of  Mr.  P.  C.  Labouchere,  and  allow  the  house  of  Messrs. 
Bates  &  Baring  to  dissolve,  and  then  receive  it  under  the  general 
name  of  its  own  firm.  Mr.  Thomas  Baring,  who  had  found  in  the 
house  of  Hope,  at  Amsterdam,  no  occupation  suited  to  his  talents 
and  his  business  spirit,  also  entered  the  London  house,  which  now, 
besides  Mr.  Alexander  Baring  himself,  consisted  of  his  son  Francis, 


OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  BARINGS.  287 

his  two  nephews  John  and  Francis  Baring,  and  Mr.  Bates.  In  the 
year  1828,  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  who  was  then  anticipating  his 
elevation  to  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  resolved  to  retire  from  the 
house  he  had  hitherto  conducted,  and  let  his  son-in-law  Mr. 
Humphrey  St.  John  Mildmay,  enter  it.  The  latter  gentleman 
was  a  brother  of  Sir  Harry  Mildmay,  Bart.,  (who  won  so  wide  a 
reputation  in  the  English  gay  world),  and  until  his  admission  into 
this  partnership  had  been  a  Brevet-Captain  in  the  Royal  Life 
Guards.  There  then  remained  five  associates,  Mr.  Francis  Baring, 
Mr.  H.  St.  John  Mildmay,  Mr.  Joshua  Bates,  and  the  two 
brothers,  Thomas  and  John  Baring.  The  principle  was  then  laid 
down  for  the  management  of  the  house,  that  henceforth  no  busi- 
ness should  be  entered  into  without  the  assent  of  three  partners, 
and  that  since  it  might  be  foreseen,  that  the  two  associates  most 
nearly  related  to  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  namely,  his  son  Francis, 
and  his  son-in-law,  Mildmay,  would  generally  be  apt  to  vote  on 
one  side,  and  the  two  nephews,  Thomas  and  John,  on  the  other, 
thus  leaving  to  Mr.  Bates  the  casting  vote ;  an  arrangement  was 
made,  by  which  Francis  and  John  were  removed  from  all  partici- 
pation in  any  new  business,  and  were  to  be  called  upon  for  their 
votes  only  when  the  active  managers,  Messrs.  Thomas  Baring, 
Mildmay,  and  Bates  could  not  agree.  Since  that  time,  Mr. 
Francis  Baring  has  occupied  himself  but  little  with  the  general 
transaction  of  business  for  the  house,  but  after  marrying  the 
daughter  of  Napoleon's  former  Secretary  of  State,  Maret,  Duke 
of  Bassano,  at  Paris,  settled  permanently  in  the  latter  city,  where 
he  bought  one  of  the  most  magnificent  palatial  residences  on  the 
Place  Vendome,  at  no  less  an  expense  than  1,600,000  francs. 

From  this  it  will  be  perceived,  that  although  destined  to  have 
had  such  a  career,  it  was  not  given  him  to  follow  in  his  father's 
footsteps  as  a  mercantile  and  financial  authority  of  the  highest 
order.  In  the  Lower  House  of  Parliament,  where  he  was  a 
member  for  Thetford,  and  had  hoped  to  shine,  he  likewise  com- 
pletely failed  in  his  attempts  to  reach  political  importance.  He 
had  inherited  from  his  father,  a  stuttering,  hesitating  delivery, 
which  was  pardoned  in  the  latter,  because  he  had  become  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  of  England's  remarkable  men,  and  because 


288  THE'  SUCCESSION  OF  THE  TITLE,  Ac. 

his  opinion  always  deserved  and  commanded  respect.  But  these 
advantages  did  not  reside  in  the  son,  and  he  wearied  his  hearers. 
Upon  one  occasion,  when  he  had  obtained  permission  to  bring 
forward  a  Bill  in  relation  to  New  Zealand,  and  was  about  to 
speak,  the  members,  as  is  customary  in  the  Lower  House,  when 
they  do  not  wish  to  listen,  one  after  another  withdrew,  and  he 
was  soon  reduced  to  silence  for  want  of  a  proper  quorum  which 
required  the  presence  of  forty  members.  Fate  seemed  to  deny 
Mr.  Francis  Baring  success,  in  everything  he  undertook,  where 
his  natural,  and  assuredly  not  reprehensible  ambition,  made  the 
object  desirable — an  observation  which  I  have  not  made  without 
some  regret,  for  the  friendship  he  has  ever  shown  me,  and  his 
independent,  manly  character  have  endeared  him  to  me.  I  have 
elsewhere  remarked,  that  after  the  death  of  his  elder  brother,  the 
present  Lord  Ashburton,  who  lives  in  childless  celibacy,  both  title 
and  property  will  pass  to  Francis  Baring ;  or,  in  case  of  his  pre- 
vious decease,  to  his  eldest  son.  Before  the  birth  of  this  son,  a 
doubt  arose  in  the  family,  whether  he,  being  born  in  France,  could 
be  the  rightful  heir,  according  to  the  English  law,  since  his  father 
had  first  seen  the  light  at  Philadelphia  and  his  mother  at  Paris, 
while  the  child's  grandmother  had,  likewise,  been  born  at  Phila- 
delphia. The  legal  advisers  of  the  British  crown  and  other  coun- 
sel were  consulted,  and  their  decision  was  affirmative,  on  the 
ground  that  a  British  subject  retains  his  rights  to  the  third  gene- 
tiou,  and  can  neither  lose  them  nor  divest  himself  of  them.  Had 
the  decision  been  of  an  opposite  character,  the  offer  made  by  Lord 
Grenville,  the  English  ambassador  at  Paris,  would  have  been 
accepted,  and  the  accouchement  would  have  taken  place  within  the 
walls  of  the  British  Legation. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  FRENCH  FIVE  PER  CENT.  RENTES. 

My  reception  in  Havre  in  the  summer  of  1822 — James  Lafitte,  the  Paris 
banker — A  Sunday  at  his  country-seat — "  Maison  sur  Seine,"  a  former  plea- 
sure palace  of  Louis  XIV — The  Marquis  of  Lansdowne — Exorbitant  price 
of  cotton — The  general  improper  conduct  of  speculators  at  Havre  and 
Rouen — The  only  exception — A  merchant's  morality — Breach  of  trust  of 
one  of  the  first  houses  in  Havre,  to  the  injury  of  Mr.  P.  C.  Labouchere,  its 
great  patron — The  combination  of  Messrs.  Cropper,  Benson  &  Co.,  and  Rath- 
bone,  Hodgson  &  Co.,  to  bring  about  a  fresh  rise  in  the  prices  of  cotton,  which 
had  gone  down — An  offer  made,  inviting  me  to  join  in  this  project,  which,  as 
I  had  foreseen,  proved  impracticable — A  visit  to  Hamburgh,  in  the  winter 
of  1823-24 — Return  to  Paris — Project  of  the  French  Minister  of  Finance, 
the  Marquis  de  Villele,  for  the  conversion  of  the  whole  national  debt  into, 
five  per  cent  Rentes — Rivalry  of  the  Vicomte  de  Chateaubriand,  who  suc- 
ceeds in  defeating  the  scheme,  but  without  being  able  to  unseat  the  Mar- 
quis— By  this  he  loses  his  own  place  in  the  ministry — First  acquaintance 
with  General  Lafayette ;  his  desire,  after  an  interval  of  forty  years,  to  re- 
visit the  United  States — His  embarrassed  pecuniary  situation — Successful 
attempt,  on  my  part,  to  procure  the  sum  of  100,000  francs  for  him — He  is 
thereby  enabled  to  undertake  the  desired  journey,  and  starts  upon  it — Miss 
Wright,  his  protegee — The  Paris  Bourse,  after  the  failure  of  Vill&e's 
scheme — Well-meant  but  enigmatically-worded  advice  of  Mr.  Francis  Bar- 
ing, in  regard  to  the  five  per  cent.  Rente — He  fails  in  his  object  to  save  me 
from  an  important  loss. 

I  again  resume  the  thread  of  my  own  history,  which  I  dropped 
in  the  spring  of  1820,  after  my  return  to  New  Orleans,  in  the 
month  of  May.  Shortly  after  my  return  I  was  enabled  to  gratify 
a  long-deferred  wish.  The  wish  was  for  a  good  wife,  whose  good- 
ness of  heart  and  disposition  might  insure  me  the  homely  happi- 
ness which  men  seek  for  in  the  married  life.  Of  bachelorhood  I 
was  heartily  weary.     The  daughter  of  a  former  naval  officer  in 

13 


2\)0  MY  RECEPTION  AT  HAVRE. 

the  French  service,  Feve  by  name,  who,  in  the  year  of  the  emi- 
gration to  Charleston,  had  come  over  and  died  there,  appeared  to 
me  to  possess  all  necessary  qualifications.  Her  mother,  after  her 
widowhood,  removed  to  New  Orleans,  and  there  I  learned  to 
know  my  Lisida,  even  in  her  childhood.  Her  captivating  and 
agreeable  manners  soon  won  me ;  and,  as  Louisiana  was  poorly 
furnished  with  instructors,  prompted  me  to  complete  her  education, 
giving  to  it  all  the  attention  which  my  predilection  for  her  caused 
in  me.  During  my  absence  of  nearly  a  year  and  a  half  from  New 
Orleans  she  had  become  a  blooming  maiden,  who  won  all  hearts, 
but  made  a  deeper  impression  upon  none  more  than  mine.  At 
my  return  she  greeted  me  with  a  true  childlike  affection,  and  a 
few  months  afterward  she  became  mine.  In  the  matrimonial  lot- 
tery I  have  had  the  good  luck  to  draw  a  prize.  My  wife,  who  is 
remarkable,  not  only  for  rare  beauty,  but  for  good  tact — that  sub- 
stitute for  a  powerful  mind  which  good  Nature  grants  to  women — 
won,  not  only  in  New  Orleans,  but  later,  in  the  great  society  of  a 
city  like  Paris,  the  title,  belle  et  bonne,  and  has  been  to  me  a  faith- 
ful, loving,  steadfast,  well-tried,  and  courageous  companion  through 
life,  as  the  reader  will  more  fully  learn  in  the  ensuing  pages. 
She  has  borne  me  five  children,  two  boys  and  three  girls,  the 
youngest  of  whom  died  soon  after  its  birth.  I  have  also  had  the 
misfortune  to  lose  both  my  sons  just  as  they  had  attained  man- 
hood, and  were  full  of  good  promise.  My  eldest  daughter  is  the 
wife  of  Mr.  Buhrer,  chief  of  division  in  the  ministry  of  state,  and 
in  the  department  de  la  Maison  de  VEmpereur. 

Late  in  the  summer  of  1822  the  affairs  of  my  house  required  a 
visit ,  to  Europe,  and  I  departed.  I  landed  at  Havre.  Here  I 
was  received  by  the  whole  Exchange,  not  merely  with  distinction, 
but  with  a  sort  of  jubilee.  In  connection  with  all  the  first  houses, 
I  had  executed  all  their  commissions,  sent  cotton  to  all,  and  put 
money  into  the  purses  of  all.  My  appearance  at  the  Exchange 
was  the  signal  of  the  gathering  of  a  little  court  about  me,  and  for 
the  offering  of  numberless  dejeuners  dinatoires  and  dinners.  Had 
it  been  possible  to  deceive  myself,  as  to  the  source  of  this  recep- 
tion and  this  impressement,  I  had  but  to  cast  a  glance  at  the  shore 
of  the  sea,  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  port.     There  I 


JACQUES  LAFITTE.  291 

saw  the  great  Chateaubriand,  then  in  the  zenith  of  his  glory,  com- 
panionless,  wandering  lonely  and  forsaken  on  the  shore,  pursuing 
his  own  dreams  or  inspirations.  He  merited  this  visible  neglect 
as  little  as  I  my  distinguished  welcome ;  that  I  felt  in  my  heart. 
His  merits  rested  upon  a  pedestal  that,  with  progressing  time, 
would  lift  him  ever  higher ;  mine  consisted  in  a  well  calculated 
lucky  operation  in  the  cotton  market,  offered  by  opportunity,  and 
the  consequences  of  which  lost  their  importance,  even  in  the 
very  next  year,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel. 

I  had  more  or  less  extensive  connections  with*all  the  great  bank- 
ers of  Paris,  except  Jacques  Lafitte,  who,  as  a  native  Frenchman 
— he  came  from  Bayonne — kept  himself  at  the  head  of  the  others, 
who  were  mostly  Swiss.  A  very  pressing  letter  of  introduction, 
from  Alexander  Baring  himself,  made  me  at  length  acquainted 
with  him.  He  was  then  owner  of  the  former  Hotel  de  l'Empire, 
and  had  his  various  offices  on  the  ground  floor.  His  own  count- 
ing-room was  in  a  great  hall,  where,  upon  a  very  broad  dais  of 
mahogany,  four  steps  high,  stood  his  huge  writing  desk.  Before 
him,  at  the  foot  of  the  dais,  were  some  twenty  arm-chairs,  in  half 
circle  ;  behind  him,  right  and  left,  a  dozen  speaking  tubes  in  the 
hall  served  as  means  of  communication  with  the  heads  of  the  va 
rious  departments  which  composed  his  establishment.  The  ar- 
rangements were  princely.  As  I  entered  I  found  most  of  the 
arm-chairs  filled  by  exchange  brokers.  I  mounted  the  four  steps, 
and  presented  to  the  chief  of  this  gathering  my  letter  of  introduc- 
tion, which,  after  a  glance  at  its  contents,  he  laid  behind  him,  and 
graciously  waved  me  to  one  of  the  empty  chairs.  After  some 
minutes  a  word  was  whispered  into  one  of  the  speaking  tubes, 
and  a  clerk  appeared  from  within,  to  whom  Mr.  Lafitte  gave  my 
letter,  and  then  beckoned  to  me.  With  all  due  reverence  I  drew 
near  his  mercantile  majesty,  and  received  from  his  own  mouth  a 
polite  invitation  to  visit  him  on  next  Sunday,  at  the  Maison  sur 
Seine,  a  country-seat  which  he  had  just  purchased  from  government 
and  which  Louis  XIV.  had  built.  "  Come  early,"  he  said,  "  and 
we  will  talk  at  our  ease,  while  promenading  in  the  park."  I  made 
my  appearance  on  Sunday,  about  three  o'clock,  was  received  by 
the  steward,  and  shown  into  the  reception  rooms,  library,  billiard 


292  DINNER  AT  LAFITTE'S. 

room,  saloon,  etc.,  after  which  I  was  told  that  I  would  find  M.  La- 
fitte  walking  in  the  park.  Thereupon  I  took  for  my  companion 
an  elderly  Englishman,  who  appeared  to  be  boring  himself  in  the 
library.  We  soon  met  the  master  of  the  house,  in  company  with 
two  very  simply-dressed,  well-mannered  Englishmen,  one  of  whom 
wore  something  then  unusual  in  French  society — a  summer  cos- 
tume, white  drilling  trowsers,  fine  cotton  stockings  and  shoes. 
Both  spoke  French  well.  The  perfection  of  English  cotton  man- 
ufactures appeared  to  be  the  topic  of  conversation ;  and  when  we 
returned  to  the  house  I  had  decided  that  the  two  gentlemen  were 
great  Manchester  spinners.  M.  Lafitte,  as  usual,  led  the  conver- 
sation, as  the  French  say,  "  il  tenait  la  come  ;"  that  is,  he  spoke 
out  whatsoever  came  into  his  head,  interrupting  others,  and  start- 
ing countless  topics  that  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter  in 
hand.  On  reaching  the  drawing-rooms  we  found  Madame  La- 
fitte, with  her  only  daughter,  now  the  Princess  de  la  Moskowa, 
and  several  gentlemen,  most  of  them  opposition  deputies  in  the 
chamber,  among  them  M.  Cassimir  Perrier  and  M.  Grammont,  to 
whom  M.  Lafitte  introduced  me  personally.  At  table  one  of  the 
Englishmen  was  placed  at  Madame  Lafitte's  right  hand,  the  other 
at  her  husband's.  I  concluded,  by  this  distribution  of  the  places 
of  honor,  that  they  must  be,  probably,  owners  of  several  great 
cotton  factories,  with  enormous  credits  at  Lafitte's,  which  regu- 
lated the  proportion  of  his  great  politeness  to  them.  M.  Lafitte, 
whose  talkativeness  had  as  yet  found  no  obstacle,  rattled  away. 
He  told  a  great  deal  about  the  "hundred  days,"  and  said  he  had 
never  admired  Napoleon  ;  and  that  during  the  time  when  he  was 
daily  sent  for,  and  consulted  by  the  emperor,  he  had  learned  to 
know  him  well,  and  had  discovered  that  he  possessed  the  art  of 
making  himself  popular  in  the  highest  degree.  "  He  was  quite 
confidential  with  me,"  said  Lafitte,  "  spoke  without  any  retinence, 
and  once  made  to  me  a  notable  remark  about  our  nation.  '  The 
French,'  he  said,  '  are  a  people  whom  one  must  know  how  to 
govern  with  arms  of  iron,  but  with  velvet  gloves.' "  My  readers 
may  have  heard  this ;  but  a  remark  which  fell  from  the  lips  of 
Madame  Lafitte's  right  hand  neighbor  is  newer.  "  Right,"  said  he, 
"  it  is  so — but  he  very  often  forgot  to  put  his  gloves  on."     This  was 


HIGH  PRICE  OF  COTTON.  293 

so  true,  and  so  apropos,  that  all  who  heard  it  burst  out  laughing.  I 
asked  my  next  neighbor  who  the  witty  gentleman  was,  and  learned, 
to  my  surprise,  that  he  was  no  less  a  person  than  the  celebrated 
Marquis  of  Lansdowne  ;  his  companion  was  Lord  Bristol. 

After  dinner  M.  Lafitte  continued  his  discoursing,  and  dis- 
played great  power  of  retaining  the  attention  of  his  guests :  he 
always  had  a  little  circle  round  him  which  I  joined  the  more  wil- 
lingly because  it  gave  me  an  opportunity  to  observe  the  remark- 
able superiority  of  an  English  parliamentary  speaker,  like  Lord 
Lansdowne,  over  a  French  faiseur  de  discours,  and  phrase-hunter. 
Lafitte,  in  his  attempts  to  develop  and  render  comprehensible  the 
use  and  method  of  the  French  Chamber  of  Deputies,  met  with 
constant  difficulties  in  the  answers  and  remarks  of  his  English 
listener.  "  Faire  preuve  de  capacite"  said  he,  "  Jest  le  premier  de- 
voir d'un  depute  quand  il  s'agit  de  porler"  The  simple  answer 
of  the  Marquis  was,  "  ckez  nous  on  ne  prend  la  parole  que  pour 
j'O'isser  a  la  roue  et  avancer  les  affaires — to  do  the  business  of  the 
nation — comme  nous  disons  en  Anglais." 

The  fortunate  issue  of  the  important  operation  in  cotton,  to 
which  my  concurrence  in  the  winter  of  1820-21,  had  so  materially 
contributed,  created  in  my  French  correspondents  a  veritable 
greediness  to  renew  and  extend  their  operations  in  the  next 
winter  season.  Important  commissions,  many  of  them  without 
restriction  or  limitation  as  to  price,  as  well  as  considerable  sums 
of  money  poured  into  my  house,  and  as  there  was  a  prospect  of 
an  immense  English  demand  for  the  raw  material,  the  factors  of 
the  planters  understood  the  position  of  things  as  well  as  the  usual 
great  purchasers  did,  and  being  enabled  to  count  upon  a  demand 
upon  the  production  market,  kept  the  prices  very  high.  Instead 
of  sixteen  cents,  with  which  a  year  before  I  had  opened  the 
market,  twenty  and  twenty-one  cents  were  offered,  a  price  which 
surpassed  the  cost  of  the  shipments  of  the  past  year  by  30  per 
cent,  and  over.  The  European  markets  held  back  until  the  first 
arrival  of  new  goods  should  come  into  market.  Then,  however, 
prices  began  to  fall  as  rapidly  as  they  had  risen,  and  an  average 
loss  of  20  to  25  per  cent,  on  the  purchases  made,  became 
unavoidable.      My  house  had    kept    itself  to  the  letter   of  its 


294  MERCANTILE  HONOR. 

commissions,  and  all  those  who  had  paid  money  kept  the  cotton 
which  they  had  ordered,  because  they  could  not  get  out  of  the 
scrape.  But  all  the  paper  given  by  my  house  was  allowed 
to  be  protested  upon  the  slightest  pretext.  The  house  of  Hot- 
tinguer  &  Co.,  in  Paris,  received  the  returned  purchase  and  took 
our  paper  as  far  as  they  could  get  possession  of  it.  There  resulted 
from  this,  no  less  than  five  law-suits,  which  were  settled  by 
arbitration,  and  one  fierce  process  that  endured  for  three  years. 
All  these  cases  were  decided  in  our  favor ;  but  the  want  of  truth 
and  of  ordinary  commercial  honesty  of  many  of  our  correspon- 
dents who  had  so  caressed  and  courted  me  the  year  before,  was 
without  example.  Every  means  was  made  use  of  by  these 
men  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  keeping  the  losing  purchases  for 
their  own  account.  One  M.  Morel  Fatio,  who  had  played  an 
important  part  as  Coullssier  in  the  Paris  stock  exchange,  and 
afterwards  did  a  heavy  business  in  cotton,  at  Rouen  in  1822, 
threw  back  upon  us  200  bales  of  cotton,  before  he  had  even  seen 
them,  under  the  pretext  that  he  had  ordered  "prime  quality" 
(without  limitation  of  price),  that  all  the  New  Orleans  houses 
advertised  "  prime  quality"  at  nineteen  cents,  and  that  as  our 
factor  only  asked  seventeen  and  a  half  cents  it  could  not,  possibly, 
be  "  prime  quality." 

One  exception  to  this  scandalous  course  which  seemed  to  have 
become  the  rule,  must  not  be  left  unrecorded :  I  refer  to  the  firm 
of  Victor  Elie  Lefevre  &  Sons,  Rouen.  This  firm  had  sent  us 
the  reimbursement  of  our  paper  in  a  draft  upon  the  London  house 
of  Barandon  &  Co.  "When  our  drafts  were  presented  and 
accepted,  this  house  had  received  the  money  from  Rouen  to  pay 
them,  but  failed  before  the  acceptances  fell  due,  and  Lefevre  lost 
the  amount.  He  did  not,  however,  delay  one  moment,  but  im- 
mediately instructed  another  house  in  London  to  take  measures 
for  the  payment  of  our  paper.  Besides  the  loss  of  this  capital, 
Lefevre  had  also  to  bear  the  loss  of  the  cotton  bought  on  his 
account,  and  accepted  by  him,  and  for  which  he  was  thus  obliged 
to  pay  twice.  I  have  considered  it  so  much  the  more  my  duty  to 
set  down  the  honorable  act  of  a  Rouen  house,  not  so  much 
bo3ause  of  the  strict  fulfilment  of  mercantile  obligations  under  the 


MERCANTILE  MORALS.  295 

circumstances,  as  because  of  the  rarity  of  the  occurrence  in  that 
part  of  the  world  ;  for  the  natives  of  Normandy,  and  the  houses  of 
Rouen  and  Havre,  do  not  enjoy  the  best  reputation,  and  in  the 
art  of  overreaching,  and  the  practice  of  cheating,  are  usually  con- 
sidered as  masters.  From  this  quarter,  as  already  remarked,  I 
derived  my  bitterest  and  most  abundant  experience. 

One  word  about  the  morality  of  a  merchant.  He  who  does  not 
positively  despair  of  the  possibility  of  an  exact  and  strict  observa- 
tion of  the  laws  of  trade  and  commerce,  must  at  least  confess  that 
he  has  fatten  upon  the  exceptions  far  oftener  than  upon  common 
instances.  It  is  often  said  and  believed  of  politics,  that  that  science 
cannot  be  bound  by  the  customary  laws  of  morality,  or  in  other 
words,  that  the  common  acceptation  of  the  words  Right  and 
Wrong,  must  undergo  a  considerable  modification  when  those 
words  are  politically  employed — then  judiciousness  decides, — and 
whatever  is  judicious  must  be  right.  One  may  say  about  the 
same  of  commerce  ;  if  we  allow  that  all  that  is  "  on  the  books," 
as  merchants  say,  is  right,  because  it  is  judicious,  which  means  no 
more  than  that  it  brings  the  money  in.  According  to  the  ideas 
of  the  day,  wealth  has  taken  the  place  of  worth,  which  was  the 
object  once  of  the  merchant's  ambition.  Whether  the  practice  of 
this  principle  violate  the  conscience  of  the  honest  man  or  not,  if 
he  adopt  any  measure  simply  because  it  is  judicious,  he  cannot  in 
trade,  justify  himself  by  saying  "  the  end  sanctifies  the  means." 
In  politics,  the  recognition  of  this  principle  meets  with  but  few 
difficulties,  and  fifty  years'  experience  has  taught  me,  that  in 
commerce  also,  it  is  oftener  followed  than  neglected.  Out  of 
many  such  experiences  let  me  record  one  incident :  during  a  con- 
fidential reading  of  this  chapter  to  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  he  gave 
to  the  conduct  of  the  merchants  in  Havre,  the  name  of  "felony." 

In  the  autumn  of  1824,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  the  Liver- 
pool cotton  market  showed  the  greatest  probability  of  a  rise 
in  prices.  The  house  of  Hottinguer  &  Co.,  in  Havre,  at  the 
head  of  which  was  M.  Bourlet,  a  practical,  experienced  man  of 
business,  was  several  times  urged  by  the  house  of  Cropper,  in 
Liverpool — in  whose  house  young  Hottinguer,  now  head  of  the 
Havre  house,  was  a  clerk — to  go  into  an  operation  in  cotton;  M. 


296  ANOTHER  OOTVON  OPERATION 

Bourlet,  however,  gave  evasive  answers,  and  the  matter  fell 
through.  At  the  same  time  Mr.  Daniel  Willink,  of  Amsterdam, 
established  in  Liverpool,  had  greatly  befriended  Mr.  P.  C.  Labou- 
chere, and  kept  up  a  regular  correspondence  with  him,  from  his 
estate  Hylands,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Chelmsford,  in  Essex 
County.  He  entered  heartily  into  Cropper's  ideas,  and  offered 
to  trust  him  with  a  certain  amount  of  capital  for  the  operation, 
which  appeared  to  promise  great  gain  ;  only  conditioning  that  the 
purchase  should  not  be  delayed.  M.  Labouchere  determined 
quickly,  and  at  once  sent  express  to  Havre,  and  commissioned 
Messrs.  Hottinguer  to  purchase  for  him  3,000  bales  of  cotton. 
The  express  reached  Havre  late  in  the  evening  of  Saturday.  The 
entire  disposable  quantity  of  cotton  in  Havre  was  10,000  bales, 
nearly  all  of  which  was  in  the  hands  of  Hottinguer  &  Co.,  and 
Thuret  &  Co.  On  Sunday  morning  the  merchants  assembled  as 
usual  at  the  Bourse  du  Canon,  to  wait  for  the  arrival  of  the  Paris 
mail.  A  decided  possession  of  the  market  was  not  only  possible 
but  certain ;  but  to  succeed,  it  must  be  executed  by  the  broker 
Lefevre,  because  he  possessed  the  entire  confidence  both  of  buy- 
ers and  sellers.  He  was  the  man  usually  employed  by  the  most 
extensive  purchasers,  the  house  of  Guerard,  Dupasseur  &  Co.,  and 
their  interests  lay  naturally  near  his  heart.  M.  Bourlet,  as  soon 
as  he  saw  a  person  like  M.  Labouchere  entering  earnestly  into  a 
cotton  speculation,  changed  suddenly  his  own  views,  and  recog- 
nized the  operation  as  an  unfailing  one.  Thereupon  he  sent  for 
the  broker  Lefevre,  and  in  order  to  avoid  the  peril  of  a  betrayal, 
which  might  throw  the  whole  affair  into  other  hands,  he  invited 
the  Messrs.  Guerard,  Dupasseur  &  Co.  to  a  consultation.  A 
share  in  the  purchase  of  the  whole  quantity,  10,000  bales,  was  also 
offered  to  M.  Delaunay,  at  that  time  head  of  the  firm  of  Thuret  & 
Co.,  in  Havre;  and  the  two  houses  agreed  to  the  entire  purchase, 
the  house  of  Guerard  alone  appearing  as  buyers.  It  was  also 
determined  that  Hottinguer  and  Thuret  should  offer  all  their  cot- 
ton for  sale,  and  that  the  broker  Lefevre  should  try  to  get  posses- 
sion of  all  smaller  quantities.  My  house  then  possessed  500 
bales,  stored  with  Messrs.  Hottinguer,  and  300  with  Thuret.  Our 
agent,  M.  Emanuel  Bernoulli,  was  by  accident  in  Havre.     It  i* 


CHARACTERIZED  BY  MR.  A.  BARING  AS  "  FELONY."     297 

not  necessary  to  say  here  in  what  manner  he  became  acquainted 
with  the  foregoing  circumstances,  but  he  lost  no  time  in  going  to 
M.  Bourlet,  and  telling  him,  resolutely,  "  Whatsoever  occurs  in 
the  cotton  market,  all  further  sale  of  Nolte's  cotton  must  be  stop- 
ped. You  must  not  sell  a  single  bale  without  directions  from  me." 
Then  he  went  to  M.  Delaunay,  and  made  the  same  remark  to 
him  ;  but  he  was  answered  with  the  completest  sangfroid,  "  Vous 
arrivez  trop  tard,  mon  ami.  Vos  cotons  sont  dejd  vendus.  The 
300  bales  had  thus  fallen  into  the  hands  of  this  worthy  specu- 
lator. At  once  it  was  rumored  about  the  exchange,  that  the 
entire  stock  in  Havre  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Gue- 
rard,  Dupasseur  &  Co.  On  Monday  morning  the  post  brought 
news  of  a  rise  of  prices  in  the  Liverpool  market,  the  instant  con- 
sequence of  which  was  a  rise  of  three  francs  a  hundred  weighty 
which  went  still  higher  soon  after.  M.  Labouchere  was  written 
to,  that  the  Havre  purchasers  had  gotten  the  start  of  him,  and  had 
thwarted  the  fulfilment  of  his  commission  ;  it  was  thought,  how- 
ever, that  a  similar  outlay  of  capital  in  cotton-yarn  at  Rouen 
would  be  judicious,  inasmuch  as  the  prices  of  this  had  not  been 
affected  by  the  news.  Bourlet  knew  with  whom  he  had  to  do, 
when  he  reckoned  upon  the  cheapening  of  this  improper  acquisi- 
tion ;  instead  of  a  regular  rise  in  the  first  months  of  the  year  1825, 
it  gave  a  very  meagre  result.  M.  Labouchere  had  learned  nothing 
about  the  foregoing  circumstances,  nor  the  head  of  the  Paris 
house,  the  elder  M.  Hottinguer,  whose  straightforward,  honest  spirit 
would  have  severely  condemned  the  action  of  his  associates.  I 
have  already  remarked,  that  in  the  United  States,  overreaching 
goes  for  cleverness,  and  there  this  act  would  probably  be  called 
"  a  capital  combination."  How  very  few  merchants,  indeed,  are 
there  out  of  England  who,  like  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  would  give 
it  a  very  different  appellation  ! 

The  commerce  of  New  Orleans,  destined  to  so  mighty  a  future, 
and  which  had  begun  its  increase  the  second  year  after  the  treaty 
of  Ghent,  in  1814,  was  obliged  in  the  city  itself  to  contend  with 
the  greatest  difficulties,  because  of  the  miserable  condition  of  the 
streets,  the  highways,  and  the  dykes  of  the  river,  which  threw  a 
thousand  hindrances  in  the  way  of  trade's  advancement.     The 

13* 


298  NEW  OllLEANS  IN  1821. 

legislation  about  city  interests  was  in  the  hands  of  the  mayor  and 
a  council,  almost  entirely  composed  of  native,  i.  e.,  ignorant  Cre- 
oles, who,  during  the  first  years  of  peace,  thought  of  nothing,  and 
used  their  influence  for  nothing  but  the  protection  of  their  own 
personal  interests ;  and  troubled  themselves  exceedingly  little 
about  the  common-weal.  The  mayor  himself,  Rouffignac  by 
name,  was  a  native  of  France,  formerly  a  cavalry  officer  in  the 
Spanish  service,  had  the  best  will  in  the  world,  was  an  honest, 
practical  person,  but  yet  so  perfectly  uninstructed  that  he  feared 
to  trust  himself  or  any  other  man.  So  it  happened  that  nearly 
'six  years  went  by,  before  they  took  the  slightest  action  towards 
the  improvement  of  the  streets.  In  1821  New  Orleans  did  not 
possess  one  single  paved  street.  Through  the  city  ran  four  feet 
wide  side-walks,  which  were  called  banquettes,  and  which  ran  along 
close  to  the  houses.  They  were  made  of  brick  set  loosely  in  the 
sand,  and  in  wet  weather  became  almost  utterly  useless,  since 
nearly  every  step  of  the  pedestrian  produced  a  spirt  of  liquid  mud 
from  between  the  loose  bricks.  The  streets  themselves  were 
nothing  but  mud  holes,  with  occasional  projecting  bits  of  dried  clod. 
In  1822  the  city  council  recognized  the  necessity  of  some  improve- 
ment, and  it  was  determined  that  the  principal  street,  called  Rue 
Roy  ale,  should  be  paved.  The  cost  of  this  pavement  was  calcu- 
lated at  $300,000,  while  the  revenue  of  the  city  amounted  only  to 
$60,000  or  $70,000  per  annum.  Leases  of  tenements  and  lands 
belonging  to  the  city,  and  the  yearly  sale  of  part  of  them,  the 
results  of  public  sales,  etc.,  made  up  this  sum.  Finally,  they 
determined  to  make  an  effort  to  borrow  the  money  ;  a  committee 
of  the  city  council  was  appointed,  and  this  committee  imme- 
diately waited  upon  me,  requesting  the  loan  at  an  interest  of  7 
per  cent,  payable  half  yearly  ;  the  money  to  be  retained  so  long 
as  they  might  require  it.  I  could  find  no  means  of  rendering 
comprehensible  to  these  gentlemen  the  fact  that  no  capitalist  could 
be  discovered  who  would  lend  upon  such  terms;  particularly 
none  in  Europe,  whither  they  appeared  to  be  looking  :  that  they 
must  borrow  the  money  for  a  certain  specified  time,  etc.  At 
length  I  succeeded  in  proposing  an  acceptable  project  for  a  loan. 
That  the  city  should  receive  a  cash  payment  of  $150,000,  to  be 


NEW  COTTON  COMBINATIONS.  o<k, 

followed*  the  next  year  by  a  similar  sum,  giving  its  obligation  to 
repay  the  sum  in  ten  years,  with  interest  at  the  rate  of  98  per 
cent,  for  that  time.  I  also  naturally  arranged  to  have  certificate  s 
of  stock,  all  bearing  the  same  date  of  emission,  to  be  held  as  com- 
pensation for  the  yearly  interest  on  the  second  half  of  the  loan, 
while  I  paid  in  the  sum  in  solid,  well  secured  planter's  note., 
which  had  one  year  to  run.  These  notes  were  in  the  money  - 
market,  at  a  discount  of  from  15  to  18  per  cent.,  and  the  differ- 
ence of  interest,  which  amounted  to  about  $13,000,  and  which  the 
council  could  have  gained  had  they  chosen ;  but  by  their  neglect 
of  it,  it  fell  to  me.  The  Messrs.  Barings  sold  me  these  notes  with 
a  bonus  of  17  per  cent.,  and  the  whole  operation  brought  me  in  a 
net  profit  of  $65,000.  This  was  the  forerunner  of  a  later  advance 
made  by  the  Barings  to  the  city  of  New  Orleans  and  the  state  of 
Louisiana,  and  which  somewhat  surpassed  a  couple  of  millions. 
This  business  was  conducted,  some  years  after  the  ruin  of  my 
house,  by  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  who  visited  New  Orleans  for 
the  purpose. 

The  stock  of  cotton  which  the  stimulus  already  spoken  of,  had 
gathered  and  left  unsaleable  in  many  European  markets,  particu- 
larly Liverpool,  of  course  caused  great  anxiety  about  the  new 
American  crop,  in  the  minds  of  all  who  had  made  advances,  and 
to  whom  shipments  would  not  guaranty  a  return.  The  great 
quaker  house  of  Cropper,  Benson  &  Co.,  were  at  the  head  of  the 
firms  who  found  themselves  in  this  position.  Whether  it  were  a 
proper  comprehension  of  the  real  position,  and  look  of  the  whole 
European  cotton  market,  in  reference  to  the  stock  on  hand,  and 
tee  supply  to  be  imported,  or  only  an  experiment  to  awaken  the 
spirit  of  speculation,  and  to  cause  a  rise  in  prices ;  in  brief,  this 
house  exhibited  a  general  manifest,  in  which  by  a  variety  of  cal- 
culations it  strove  to  show  by  logical  conclusions  and  reckonings, 
that  the  production  of  cotton  had  its  limit,  and  that  in  consequence 
of  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  and  the  annual  decrease  of  the 
colored  population,*  as  well  as  by  the  natural  restrictions  which 

*  This  argument  was  precisely  one  of  the  most  feeble  in  the  logic  of  the 
Croppers.  Five  years  before,  the  colored  census  was  1.538.060  ;  and  in  18-30, 
thirty  years  later,  3.176.380,  a  yearly  increase  of  54.609  souls. 


300  ELEMENTS  OF  CALCULATIONS. 

northern  latitudes  place  upon  cotton  growing,  that  the  ncesswy 
and  approaching  consequence  must  be,  that  the  importation  would 
become  daily  less,  and  obtainable  only  at  very  high  prices,  and 
that  from  this  would  result — so  at  least  they  believed — that  the 
consumption  would  far  exceed  the  production,  and  make  the  cost 
of  cotton  immensely  high.  This  manifest  was  disseminated  with 
a  certain  pomp  over  all  the  cotton  manufacturing  cities  of  Eng- 
land and  the  United  States.  People  read  it  with  interest,  but  it 
failed  of  its  object,  and  had  very  slight  effect  upon  the  cotton 
market.  The  thoughtful  houses  of  Havre  and  Rouen,  called  it 
"  echauffaudage  pour  /aire  monter  les  prix"  and  in  Liverpool 
and  Manchester  they  were  distrustful,  and  appeared  to  remember 
the  calculation,  by  means  of  which  the  firm  of  Cropper  had 
prophesied  a  poor  crop  of  wheat,  and  high  prices  only  a  few  years 
before.  They  went  so  far  as  to  send  their  agents  into  every  part 
of  England  to  calculate  the  general  yield  of  ears  in  the  wheat 
fields  of  the  various  districts,  and  the  average  number  of  grains  in 
the  ears,  in  order  to  strike  a  parallel  with  the  yield  of  grains  in 
fruitful  and  abundant  crops,  and  so  to  support  their  prophecy 
with  reference  to  prices.  All  the  calculations  failed ;  the  crop 
was  a  good  general  crop,  and  speculators,  among  whom  were  the 
Messrs.  Cropper  themselves,  lost  very  heavily.  Their  very 
important  share  in  the  speculations  which  followed  these  calcula- 
tions, proved  in  this  instance,  the  uprightness  of  their  conviction ; 
but  in  respect  of  the  cotton  manifest  that  appeared  later,  I  had  no 
opportunity  to  divine  the  concealed  objects.  I  had  visited 
Liverpool  in  the  course  of  the  summer  of  1823,  and  found  that 
the  general  voice  of  the  exchange  there  was  not  prophetic  of  a 
rise  in  the  price  of  cotton.  In  the  house  of  Cropper  a  hint  was 
given  me  that  other  views  might  possibly  be  correct.  Thereupon, 
I  betook  myself  to  Manchester,  to  look  around  me  among  my 
friends  there.  This  occurred  about  the  time  of  the  Doncaster 
races,  where  Mr.  William  Garnet  (of  the  then  important  house  of 
Messrs.  Robert  &  William  Garnet),  had  determined  to  go  in  his 
own  carriage,  and  invited  me  to  accompany.  I  had  scarcely 
accepted,  and  so  written  to  my  friend  Adam  Hodgson,  then 
partner  in  the  house  of  Rathbone,  Hodgson  &  Co.,  that  I  at  once 


ANOTHER  COTTON  COMBINATION.  30 1 

received  in  answer,  a  most  urgent  letter,  urging  me,  instead  of 
thinking  of  the  Doncaster  races,  to  weigh  carefully  an  event  which 
must  infallibly  occur  in  the  cotton  market ;  that  my  co-operation 
was  necessary  to  him,  and  therefore,  he  begged  me  to  return  at 
once  to  Liverpool.  I  obeyed  the  call,  and  betook  myself  directly 
to  Liverpool.  On  my  arrival,  he  pointed  out  to  me,  that  he  must 
take  me  at  once  to  the  Messrs.  Cropper,  and  there  it  would  be 
shown  to  me  in  the  strictest  secrecy,  that  an  entirely  new  view 
of  the  condition  of  things  was  to  be  taken.  When  we  reached  the 
place,  the  elder  Mr.  James  Cropper,  head  of  the  firm,  was  in  his 
sanctum  sanctorum,  a  homely  sort  of  chamber,  which  touched  the 
great  hall  of  the  general  counting-room,  and  possessed  a  double 
iron  door.  Into  this  chamber  we  were  mysteriously  introduced 
by  one  of  the  partners,  Mr.  David  Hodgson,  and  after  our 
entrance,  the  head  of  the  greatest  cotton  broker  firm,  Mr.  Cooke, 
of  the  firm  of  Cooke  &  Cowen,  was  sent  for;  meanwhile,  the 
already  mentioned,  ever  ready  manifesto,  was  exhibited.  Mr. 
Cooke  was  sent  for  to  prove  to  me  that  a  demand  for  the 
exportation  of  10,000  bales  of  cotton  to  Havre,  where  the  market 
appeared  to  have  been  neglected,  must  infallibly  shake  the 
ordinary  buyers  and  spinners  in  Manchester  and  Glasgow ;  and 
already  a  rise  in  the  prices  was  evident,  as  would  soon  be  visible 
to  all.  In  the  expectation  that  I  would  not  refuse  my  assent  and 
co-operation  to  a  plan  formed  by  him,  and  that  I  would  associate 
myself  with  their  representatives,  David  and  Adam  Hodgson ; 
Messrs.  Cropper  had  resolved  to  send  both  of  these  gentlemen  to 
Havre,  in  order  to  unite  in  one  house  commissions  for  the  pur- 
chase, in  Liverpool,  of  10,000  bales  for  Havre ;  as  it  was  clear 
that  the  speculation  would  be  a  good  one  for  both  places,  as  it 
would  prove  the  result  of  the  manifesto,  so  soon  as  it  came  to 
general  knowledge.  My  society,  I  said,  was  very  much  at  the 
service  of  those  gentlemen,  but  their  project  must  positively  fail, 
particularly  if  they  were  to  go  directly  to  Havre.  On  the  first 
knowledge  of  the  object  of  such  a  voyage  taken  by  the  heads  of 
two  important  Liverpool  houses,  the  idea  would  suggest  itself  to 
people  that  there  must  be  an  under  design — to  wit :  if  the  specula- 
tion was  so  sure  and  infallible,  as  they  appeared  to  think,  folks 


303  THE  FRENCH  STATE  DEBT. 

would  be  certain  to  ask  what  the  established  house,  iu  union  with 
their  mmerous  friends  could  gain  by  sending  10,000  bales  of 
cotton  on  their  own  account  to  Havre.  My  advice  was,  not  to 
go  by  Southampton  to  Havre,  but  by  Dieppe  to  Rouen,  where  I 
would  make  them  acquainted  with  a  leading  merchant  who 
thoroughly  understood  the  French  cotton  market,  and  who  would 
place  them  at  once  in  the  exact  position  to  judge  of  the  whole 
matter.  My  advice  was  taken.  We  went  by  London  direct  to 
Rouen,  and  here  I  presented  my  companions  to  M.  Edward 
Quesnel  l'Aine.  A  conversation  took  place.  On  his  correction 
of  their  ideas  as  to  the  nature  of  a  Havre  merchant,  they  saw  so 
clearly  the  impossibility  of  continuing  their  project,  that  they 
themselves,  proposed  to  accompany  me  to  Paris,  and  so  by  Hol- 
land back  to  England.  On  this  occasion  I  could  not  help  recalling 
that  expression  of  Lafontaine's,  '-'•Jean  s'en  alia  comme  il  etait 
venu" 

From  Holland,  whither  I  had  accompanied  my  friends,  I  went 
to  Hamburg.  Here  memories  of  my  early  youth  were  still  vivid 
in  the  hearts  of  most  of  my  acquaintances,  and  I  found  my  boy- 
hood's friends,  with  one  exception,  in  good  health  and  circum- 
stances. I  found  also  that  both  my  parents  were  well,  although 
my  father  had  already  for  some  years  been  afflicted  with  total 
blindness.  Early  in  January,  1824,  I  went  to  Paris  again,  and 
there  learned  that  the  speedy  arrival  of  Mr.  Alexander  Baring 
and  his  family  was  expected. 

The  project  of  the  minister-president,  Marquis  de  Villele,  to 
convert  the  state  debt  from  five  per  cents  to  three  per  cents 
gave  rise  to  this  visit.  It  was  proposed  to  pay  off  with  a  round 
sum  those  who  were  disinclined  to  exchange  their  claims  which 
bore  five  per  cent,  interest  for  new  three  per  cent,  claims,  and  to 
take  seventy-five  francs  for  every  hundred.  The  whole  state  debt 
amounted  to  3,066,783,560  francs  ;  and  as  it  was  shown  that  only 
about  one-third  of  the  state  creditors  would  consent  to  the  con- 
version, a  payment  in  cash  of  1,055,556,720  francs  became  neces- 
sary. In  order  to  collect  this  important  capital,  the  whole  finan- 
cial power  of  England,  Holland  and  France  must  be  called  into 
exercise.     Invitations  in  all  directions  assembled  the  leaders  of 


THE  FRENCH  STATE  DEBT.     .       30o 

the  Paris  and  London  Exchanges — Messrs.  Baring  Brothers  & 
Co.,  of  London,  Brothers  Rothschild  and  J.  Lafitte  &  Co.,  of 
Paris — to  no  very  difficult  task,  namely,  to  arrange  in  three  lists 
the  capitalists  of  various  lands  with  whom  they  were  connected, 
especially  those  of  London,  Amsterdam,  and  Paris,  at  the  head  of 
each  list  being  one  of  themselves.  Thereupon,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  a  committee  was  appointed,  com- 
posed of  Baron  James  Rothschild  and  Mr.  Jacques  Lafitte,  to 
treat  of  the  conversion  with  the  Marquis  of  Villele  in  exchange, 
and  to  procure  ready  money  for  the  payment  of  the  old  state  debt. 
This  committee  sat  daily  in  the  house  of  the  Brothers  Rothschild, 
and  sat  the  longer  because  of  the  inexhaustible  eloquence  of  M. 
Lafitte,  about  the  advantages  to  accrue  from  the  conversion  and 
all  matters  connected  with  it — an  eloquence  which  claimed  all  the 
attention  of  his  colleagues,  and,  as  I  learned  from  Mr.  Baring, 
with  whom,  conformably  to  his  desires,  I  breakfasted  nearly  every 
day,  drove  them  frequently  into  positive  impatience.  The  secret 
plan  of  the  holders  of  the  3  per  cent,  debt  was  to  raise  it  to  80, 
and  then  to  sell  it,  and  so  get  rid  of  it.  This  price  would  give  to 
buyers  an  interest  of  3^  per  cent. ;  and-  if  the  portion  of  the  debt 
to  be  paid  off  could  not  be  raised,  excepting  by  new  3  per  cent, 
purchasers  at  80,  the  consequence  would  be,  that  the  5  per  cent, 
before  the  conversion  would  be  worth  the  relative  price  of  106 
francs  66%,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  corresponding  interest.  This 
governed  the  operations  of  the  London,  Frankfort,  Amsterdam, 
and  Paris  Exchanges.  The  capital  destined  for  the  conversion, 
and  collected  at  the  common  cost  of  the  representatives  of  the 
three  lists,  was  estimated  at  1,000  millions.  Speculators  had 
conceived  so  favorable  an  idea  of  the  3  per  cent  funds  to-be  cre- 
ated— an  idea  based  on  the  belief  that  the  undertakers  would  not 
bring  it  into  circulation  under  80 — that  buyers  were  found  in  Am- 
sterdam and  Frankfort  at  81*82,  and  even  83J.  At  the  same 
time  important  sales  were  made  of  French  5  per  cent,  state  paper, 
at  the  relative  price  of  from  106  francs  67  to  110.  Nothing  more 
was  to  be  had.  The  project  of  M.  de  Villele  needed,  in  order  to 
become  a  legal  operation,  the  sanction  of  the  two  chambers,  and 
caused   important   debates.     Opinions   about   the  judiciousness, 


304  THE  VICOMTE  DE  CHATEAUBRIAND. 

and  even  about  the  legality  of  the  conversion,  were  widely 
different.  Meanwhile  the  ministry  possessed,  in  the  chamber  of 
deputies,  an  immense  majority  of  three  hundred  and  more,  whom 
the  wits  were  accustomed  to  speak  of  as  "  M.  de  Villeie's  three 
hundred  Spartans ;"  so  that  while  a  doubt  of  the  success  of  the 
project  was  scarcely  possible,  it  was  yet  a  critical  matter  to  open 
a  debate  with  the  small  holders  of  the  Rent,  to  whom  countless 
deputies  belonged — it  was  aiming  at  their  purses.  The  funny  men 
of  Paris  did  not  let  the  occasion  slip.  The  Rue  d'Artois  (now 
Rue  Lafitte),  in  which  lived  Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  on  the  corner 
of  the  Boulevard,  in  the  Hotel  d'Artois,  Baron  James  Rothschild, 
in  the  hotel  formerly  belonging  to  the  queen  of  Holland,  and  Mr. 
Lafitte,  in  his  own  hotel,  corner  of  Rue  de  Provence,  was  called 
"  la  Rue  de  la  Reduction ;"  and  the  keepers  of  cafes  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, who  had  formerly  given  five  lumps  of  sugar  to  a  cup  of 
coffee  now  gave  but  three,  "on  account  of  the  reduction,"  as  they 
said.  When  the  project  of  the  conversion  came  to  a  hearing  in 
the  chamber  of  deputies,  it  passed  by  a  majority  of  sixty-eight. 
This,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  would  have  been  considered  a 
large  majority ;  but,  contrasted  with  the  usual  majority  of  M.  de 
Villele,  it  was  looked  on  as  very  small,  and  served  as  a  certain 
proof  the  project  of  the  finance  minister  found  many  opponents, 
even  among  his  well-disciplined  hangers  on. 

In  the  Chamber  of  Peers  people  were  more  independent  of  min- 
isterial influence,  and  the  conversion  found  an  important  opponent 
in  the  person  of  the  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  M.  le  Vicomte  de 
Chateaubriand.  He  had  a  personal  rancor,  nourished  in  silence, 
against  the  M.  de  Villele.  The  question  of  the  conversion,  sup- 
posed, to  be  a  national  one,  became,  in  the  chamber  of  peers,  a 
personal  one.  It  came  to  the  point,  whether  the  influence  of  the 
Marquis  de  Villele,  or  that  of  the  Vicomte  de  Chateaubriand, 
would  prove  the  more  powerful :  and,  as  to  the  judiciousness  of 
the  conversion,  people,  as  often  happens  in  France,  snapped  their 
fingers.  The  marquis,  as  I  learned  from  Mr.  Baring,  had  included 
in  his  calculations  every  single  voice  in  the  chamber  of  peers ;  he 
knew  well  both  the  pro  and  con,  and  reckoned  confidentially  on  a 
majority  of  eighteen  votes  for  his  project.     The  voting  at  length 


HIS  RETIREMENT.  j>05 

took  place,  and  Villele  was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  twelve 
voices.  For  a  while  Chateaubriand  was  victorious.  This  took 
place  on  a  Friday.  The  day  before  the  5  per  cent.  Rents  had 
been  quoted  at  106  francs ;  but  at  the  close  of  the  Exchange,  on 
Saturday  evening,  they  had  fallen  to  98.  The  agitation  among 
Parisians,  especially  in  the  business  world,  was  immeasurable. 
Villele  and  Chateaubriand  had  spoken  to  each  other  at  the  royal 
mass  on  Sunday,  at  the  Tuilleries,  on  which  occasion  the  former 
very  politely  informed  the  latter  that  he  would  find  a  very  im- 
portant dispatch  awaiting  him  at  home.  On  this  Sunday  the 
vicomte  had  invited  the  most  important  ministers  and  diplomatists 
in  Paris  to  dinner.  So  soon  as  he  reached  home  he  opened  the 
dispatch ;  it  contained  the  command  to  send  in  his  portfolio,  as  he 
had  been  replaced.  When  his  guests  had  arrived,  and  taken  their 
places  at  the  dinner-table,  the  vicomte  informed  them  that  this 
was  the  last  occasion  on  which  he  could  have  the  honor  to  receive 
them  in  this  way,  as  in  the  morning,  he  said,  laughingly,  his  min- 
isterial course  would  be  run — he  had  been  "  remplace."  The 
news  was  spread  far  and  wide  the  same  evening,  in  the  usual 
haunt  of  the  notabilities,  the  foyer  de  V  Opera,  and  the  next  day, 
Monday,  at  the  opening  of  the  Exchange,  104  francs  were  freely 
given  for  5  per  cents.  It  was  of  course  a  natural  opinion,  that 
the  retirement  of  Chateaubriand  would  not  militate  against  the 
permanence  of  de  Villele's  ministry,  and  the  opinion  was  a  correct 
one.  But  for  the  business  world  the  consequence  was  immense 
losses  for  all  the  direct  part-takers  in  the  conversion,  and  for  all 
the  first  speculators,  among  whom  I,  unfortunately,  was  one,  and 
that  for  no  small  amount.  The  5  per  cents  ran  down  to  98  francs, 
and  remained  fixed  at  that  price  for  a  long  time.  As  people  had 
freely  purchased  in  behalf  of  the  conversion,  it  became  necessary 
to  turn  the  purchases  made  on  time  into  money  again.  Of  the 
three  chiefs  of  the  coalition,  Messrs.  Baring  and  Lafitte  suffered 
most,  because  of  the  immense  expense  caused  by  the  collection  of 
the  thousand  millions.  But  the  Rothschilds  were  splendidly  com- 
pensated by  the  sales  of  the  3  per  cents,  at  81  and  82,  and  by  the 
sale,  at  the  same  time,  of  a  great  quantity  of  5  per  cents,  at  104, 
105,  and  106.     As  the  3  per  cents  had  just  been  called  into  ex- 


306  GENERAL  LAFAYETTE. 

istence  they  had  nothing  to  furnish,  and  they  could  replace  the  5 
per  cents  sold  at  98  francs.  This  plan  of  M.  Rothschild  was  not 
imparted  to  the  other  two  who  were  interested  in  the  conversion, 
as  is  always  required  by  the  common  understanding  of  a  common 
participation  in  loss  and  gain — the  two  had  been  outflanked.  The 
unconquerable  aversion  which  the  chief  of  the  Hope  house  had 
long  felt,  to  all  business  connexion  with  the  Rothschilds,  was 
the  cause  of  the  Amsterdam  firms  having  no  part  in  the  projected 
conversion,  and  consequently  none  in  the  losses.  In  the  same 
way  the  house  of  Hottinguer  &  Co.,  by  advice  of  M.  Labouchere, 
had  refused  any  participation  in  the  matter. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  of  1824,  I  received  several  visits 
from  General  La  Fayette,  whom  I  had  slightly  known  some  years 
before.  His  possession  of  certain  lands  in  the  state  of  Louisiana, 
in  the  district  known  as  Pointe  Coupee,  had  given  rise  to  this 
acquaintance.  At  his  liberation  from  his  long  imprisonment  at 
Olmutz,  the  general's  circumstances  were  so  narrow,  that  old  Sir 
Francis  Baring  (father,  as  already  said,  of  Alexander  Baring)  had, 
of  his  own  free  will  and  out  of  personal  esteem  for  the  nobleman, 
sent  him  the  important  sum  of  £5,000.  The  repayment  of  this 
was  hindered  for  several  years,  and  finally  (after  the  death  of  Sir 
Francis)  it  was  agreed  that  the  Barings  should  take,  as  equivalent 
for  this  not  unimportant  sum,  some  of  the  Louisiana  lands,  at  the 
disproportionately  high,  purely  imaginary  price  of  eleven  dollars 
per  acre.  The  supervision  of  this  purchase  and  the  payment  of 
the  yearly  land  tax  upon  it,  were  committed  to  me  by  Messrs. 
Baring,  at  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  my  house  in  New 
Orleans.  Soon  after  this  arrangement — which  was  made  purely 
for  the  convenience  of  one  party — General  Lafayette  found  oppor- 
tunity to  sell  at  the  same  enormous  price,  as  speculation  price, 
another  large  tract  of  these  lands,  to  the  English  baronet  Sir 
Jos.  Coghill,  and  to  realize  the  money.  The  affair  was  closed  in 
the  most  perfectly  good  faith  by  the  general,  who  really  believed 
that  he  was  only  getting  the  worth  of  his  lands  ;  and  that  it  was 
no  bad  trade,  but  a  genuinely  good  speculation,  to  buy  them  at 
the  same  price  that  so  eminent  and  far-seeing  a  firm  as  the  Barings 
had  been  willing  to  pay.     On  closer  examination,  instituted  by 


HIS  FINANCIAL  AFFAIRS.  307 

Sir  Joshua,  it  was  shown  under  how  great  an  error  he  had  lain. 
He  complained  to  the  Barings,  in  London,  although  he  had  nothing 
to  do  with  them.  He  complained  to  the  general,  in  Paris,  and 
the  latter  considered  it  important  to  get  more  correct  infor- 
mation about  these  lands  from  me.  Naturally  enough,  I  could 
give  him  as  little  information  as  comfort  for  the  honest  patience 
with  which  he  bore  this  unfortunate  state  of  things.  The  general 
was  in  every  sense  of  the  word  an  honorable  man.  But  a  second 
difficulty  lay  heavy  upon  his  heart,  during  the  frequent  visits  that 
he  made  to  me.  So  many  invitations  had  come  to  him  from  the 
United  States,  once  more  to  visit  that  land,  which  had  to  thank 
his  youthful  arms  for  part  of  its  freedom.  Congress  had 
instructed  the  president  to  notify  him  officially,  their  readiness  to 
receive,  as  well  as  their  power  would  admit,  and  to  keep  a  frigate 
in  readiness  for  him ;  he  had  received  from  all  sides  proofs  of 
esteem  and  affection  in  such  numbers,  that  he  had  finally  deter- 
mined, in  spite  of  his  advanced  age,  to  undertake  the  voyage. 
One  difficulty,  however,  must  first  be  removed.  He  had  no 
money.  "  I  have  here  in  Paris,"  said  the  general  to  me,  "  debts 
to  the  amount  of  100,000  francs,  which  must  be  paid  before  I  dare 
go  to  another  quarter  of  the  world.  I  could  procure  the  money 
here  if  I  would  give  a  mortgage  upon  my  estate,  Lagrange,  but  it 
is  the  heritage  of  my  children — it  belonged  to  my  wife,  and  now 
is  theirs ;  and  although  they  are  all  willing  to  resign,  to  help  me 
in  my  embarrassments,  I  cannot  accept  it — I  will  not  disturb  it." 
The  general  then  asked  me  to  sound  Mr.  Baring,  as  to  whether  he 
would  follow  the  example  of  his  father,  and  advance  an  hundred 
thousand  francs.  I  promised  to  do  so,  but  at  the  same  time  told 
La  Fayette  that  I  doubted  the  result.  The  old  advance  was  stuck 
into  useless  lands,  and  I  feared  that  a  second  experiment  would 
not  be  to  the  taste  of  the  sons.  Such  was  literally  the  case.  "No, 
no,"  said  Alexander  Baring ;  "  we  are  not  quite  clear  of  an  old 
scrape,  and  cannot  plump  into  a  fresh  one."  The  general  appeared 
so  sad  when  I  told  him  of  this,  and  he  interested  me  so  much,  as 
he  did  every  one  who  knew  him  well,  that  I  bade  him  be  of  good 
courage ;  and  promised  to  visit  and  inquire  among  such  Ameri- 
cans as  ^ere  living  in  independent  circumstances  in  Paris,  at  the 


308  MISS  FANNY  WRIGHT. 

time,  and  see  what  could  be  done  with  them.  And  first  I  went  to 
our  ambassador,  James  Brown,  a  worthy  man,  with  whom  I  had 
become  acquainted  in  Louisiana,  and  whose  esteem  and  good  will 
I  dared  flatter  myself  to  possess.  Cool  and  serious  as  this  gentle- 
man was  in  all  his  dealings,  yet  he  took  hold  of  this  affair  right 
heartily,  and  with  a  fire  which  much  encouraged  me.  He  pro- 
mised to  go  to  work,  and  pledged  himself  to  furnish  one  quarter 
of  the  sum,  and  to  induce  others  to  follow  his  example.  In  fact, 
two  persons  at  once  joined  him,  naturalized  Americans,  who  had 
returned  from  the  United  States,  with  abundant  means,  and  now 
lived  in  Paris — a  Hollander  by  the  name  of  Jacob  Gerhard  Kock, 
from  Amsterdam,  and  a  Savoyard  (lately  deceased),  M.  Jean 
Francois  Girod.  In  what  manner  the  required  sum  was  finally 
made  up  I  have  never  learned,  but  the  general  himself  informed 
me  in  a  friendly  note  that  the  goal  of  his  desires  was  attained. 
His  note  inclosed  the  request  to  visit  him  in  the  course  of  the 
week,  that  he  might  introduce  me  to  a  couple  of  English  ladies, 
living  in  the  house  with  him  and  under  his  protection,  who  expected 
to  visit  the  United  States,  and  desired  to  confer  with  me  about 
some  pecuniary  difficulties.  These  two  ladies  were  the  authoress, 
Miss  Fanny  Wright,  afterwards  so  well  known  for  her  eccentrici- 
ties, and  her  sister.  They  desired  to  make  over  to  me  the  sum 
of  120,000  francs,  then  in  the  hands  of  the  banker  Lafitte,  that  I 
might  invest  this  capital  in  Louisiana,  without  losing  the  interest 
in  the  meantime  ;  and  with  power  to  use  the  same  in  the  mean- 
while, if  circumstances  should  render  it  necessary.  This  little 
negotiation  was  soon  arranged,  and  when  the  ladies  visited  Louis- 
iana, eighteen  months  later,  they  received  their  money  back.  The 
general  spoke  and  wrote  English  perfectly  well,  yet  in  speaking 
he  had  a  very  broad  accent.  In  writing,  nothing  betrayed  him 
but  the  form  of  the  letters  and  the  hand.  As  a  proof  of  this,  you 
have  here  literally  a  letter  which  he  wrote  me  on  Miss  Wright's 
affairs. 

Friday  Evening. 
My  Dear  Sir — 

I  have,  received  a  note  from  Mr.  Barnes,  Consul  of  the  U.  S., 
informing  me  that  he  has  to-morrow,  at  one  o'clock,  a  Committee 


LAFAYETTE  EMBARKS  FOR  AMERICA.  $09 

from  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  which  takes  up  the 
greater  part  of  his  time,  and  that  Monday  he  will  be  ready  to 
receive  Mr.  Nolte  and  myself.  As  I  had  not  asked  a  positive 
appointment  for  us,  but  only  announced  my  visit  for  this  morn- 
ing or  the  day  after,  I  suppose  it  alludes  to  some  application  from 
you. 

My  young  friends  have  left  Paris,  with  a  deep  feeling  of  grati- 
tude for  your  kind  attentions  in  their  behalf.  I  very  heartily  join 
in  the  sentiment,  and  am  charged  by  them  to  make  an  inquiry,  to 
which  you  will  be  pleased  to  give  an  answer,  not  losing  sight  of 
our  inexperience  in  those  matters,  and  the  possibility  of  our 
making,  very  innocently,  an  improper  demand. 

You  have  been  so  kind  as  to  give  them  the  benefit  of  your 
arrangement  with  Mr.  Hottinguer,  so  far  as  respects  the  money 
destined  to  the  Louisiana  State  Bank.  Could  the  same  interest 
be  extended  to  about  twenty  thousand  francs  remaining  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Lafitte,  if  transferred  to  Mr.  Hottinguer.  Miss 
Wright  left  with  me  a  letter  to  that  purpose,  in  case  I  was  encour- 
aged to  propose  the  arrangement.  I  waited  upon  you,  after  I  had 
paid  a  visit  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Baring ;  you  was  not  at  home ; 
to-day  I  have  been  detained  by  cold  and  hoarseness,  and  hope  the 
pleasure  to  find  you  to-morrow  at  an  early  hour ;  but  as  I  have 
an  opportunity  to  write  to  my  friend,  I  thought  I  might  antici- 
pate the  query  at  the  same  time  that  I  gave  the  answer  of  the 
Consul. 

Receive,  dear  sir,  my  best  thanks,  and  most  sincere  regard. 

LAFAYETTE. 

Two  weeks  later  the  general,  accompanied  by  his  son,  George 
Washington  Lafayette,  and  his  secretary,  M.  Levasseur,  went  to 
Havre,  where  he  embarked  on  the  13th  of  July,  in  the  regular 
packet  Cadmus,  for  New  York.  Here  he  happily  arrived  after  a 
short  voyage,  on  the  16th  of  August.  The  somewhat  imper- 
fectly edited  memoirs  of  the  general,  which  appeared  after  his 
death,  and  other  cotemporaneous  writings,  describe  in  detail  the 
extraordinary  reception  that  awaited  him  there.  The  enthusiasm 
which  welcomed  him,  found  an  echo  throughout  the  entire  land. 


31Q  ADVICE  OF  FRANCIS  BARING. 

In  every  State  of  the  Union,  (the  original  thirteen  which  com- 
posed it,  after  the  war  of  Independence,  as  well  as  those 
which  had  been  afterwards  admitted,)  gathered  young  and  old 
together  to  greet  and  honor  worthily  the  man  who,  sprung  from 
the  old  French  noblesse,  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  the  darling  of  the 
court,  had  carried  over  the  mighty  ocean  his  strength,  his  ability, 
and  a  great  part  of  his  fortune  to  fight  for  the  young  Repub- 
lic; had  been  Washington's  comrade,  friend,  and  first  aid-de- 
camp, and  was  now  the  only  living  warrior  of  that  time.  A 
period  of  more  than  forty  years  had  rolled  away  since  the  general 
had  left  the  land  for  which  he  fought ;  the  new  generation  which 
did  not  know  him,  regarded  him  in  the  light  of  a  saint,  and  the  old 
who  remained,  were  so  scattered  that  only  here  and  there  came  one 
who  could  take  the  stranger  by  the  hand  and  bid  him  welcome. 

The  chronologic  sequence  of  my  narrative  now  obliges  me  here 
to  break  off  until  I  can  again  refer  to  the  man  whom  I  knew  well, 
and  whose  friendship  I  had  won.  I  return  now  to  my  two 
athletes,  Villele  and  Chateaubriand  ;  the  latter  of  whom  I  left  as 
victor  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  but  as  a  sorely  wounded  member 
of  the  Ministry,  the  doors  of  which  were  closed  against  him.  He 
was  dismissed  on  Sunday.  I  have  shown  how  the  next  day, 
Monday,  the  whole  exchange  knew  of  the  dismissal  of  the  Minister 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  and  saw  there  a  proof  of  the  unshaken  power 
of  the  Marquis  de  Villele,  and  the  price  of  the  stocks  rose  to  102 
and  102J.  Shortly  before  exchange  hours  I  received  a  visit  from 
my  friend  Francis  Baring,  to  whom  I  had  made  no  secret  of  my 
great  losses  in  the  5  per  cents.  He  came  to  advise  me  to  let  my 
stock  go  the  next  day.  He  had  resolved,  he  said,  to  let  it  and 
his  own — that  is,  what  he  had  bought  for  his  own  account — go,  if 
he  could  only  do  it  without  harm.  "  Mine,"  I  said,  "  would  only 
cost  me  the  brokerage."  "  Ei,"  he  said  ;  "  that  I  could  not  offer," 
and  then  he  continued,  "  that  it  only  came  now  to  the  difference 
of  brokerage."  "  Ah,"  thought  I  to  myself,  "  there  is  no  danger 
here  of  any  great  fall ;"  and  so  I  took  the  affair  tolerably  cool  and 
instructed  my  exchange  agent,  D.  Maurency,  to  sell  mine  "at  a 
certain  price  which  would  not  be  strictly  kept  to,  however.  Tie 
stock  which  at  the  opening  of  the  exchange  became  saleable  at 


ONE  OF  MY  LOSSES.  31 1 

102J  and  102,  went  the  same  day  back  to  98,  and  so  remained  for 
some  weeks.  I  now  suffered  a  very  important  loss.  M. 
Maurency  had  considered  himself  authorized  to  throw  away  my 
stock  for  the  low  price  of  98  without  any  commission  from  me, 
without  any  preceding  advice,  because  I  had  no  provision  for  the 
stock  bought  on  time.  It  is  well  known  that  in  stocks,  all  pur- 
chasers on  time  are  unlawful  and  cannot  be  sued  on.  So  that  I 
had  no  help,  and  was  obliged  to  acknowledge  to  myself  that  I  had 
neglected  the  means  of  remedying  my  evident  loss.  For  I  should 
have  taken  the  object  of  Baring's  visit  for  what  it  was,  namely,  to 
spare  me  a  small  loss,  as  it  must  have  been  a  great  loss  which  he 
feared.  But  then,  why  make  the  remark  that  he  could  not  spare 
the  brokerage.  He  wished  in  the  first  place,  to  give  me  a  proof 
of  his  good  will  towards  me ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  would  have 
engaged  me  to  concur  in  the  sale  of  his  own  stock,  which  might 
have  pressed  the  current  of  prices  and  so  have  brought  down  the 
stock.  From  the  knowledge  which  I  possessed  of  his  custom  of 
wishing  to  unite  the  most  heterogeneous  points,  even  when  such 
union  must  be  excessively  difficult,  I  ought  not  to  have  over- 
looked this,  but  I  could  scarcely  harbor  such  a  suspicion  against  a 
friend.  The  offered  advice  was  in  open  contradiction  to  itself.  I 
had,  as  already  remarked,  treated  the  affair  with  levity ;  but  m 
all  matters  of  business,  a  merchant  should  never  neglect  to  study 
and  examine  diligently  all  circumstances  connected  nearly,  or 
distantly  with  the  subject.  Human  foresight  reaches  seldom  far 
enough  to  embrace  all  the  circumstances  of  a  case,  and  is  unable  to 
dispense  with  the  greatest  watchfulness ;  and  I  failed  in  this  case, 
because  I  had  neglected  to  be  vigilant. 

To  this  extended  and  ready  vigilance,  over  all  possible  results 
connected  with,  or  growing  out  of  his  projects  and  undertakings, 
belong  the  most  important  exigencies  of  the  speculative  merchant, 
by  which  term,  I  do  not  understand  the  ordinary  speculator,  but 
the  man  who  feels  himself  obliged  to  stand  out  in  the  broad  day- 
light, and  amid  his  fellow-citizens,  and  in  the  sight  of  the  whole 
world,  to  win  for  himself  the  rank  that  insures  to  him  the  reward 
of  his  struggles.  What  is  usually  understood  by  the  word  mer- 
chant, is  simply  the  factor  of  sales  and  purchases.     This  man,  no 


.312  THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  TRUE  MERCHANT. 

matter  how  extended  his  trade,  remains,  what  in  the  mercantile 
categories  of  South  Germany,  particularly  in  Austria,  is  called  a 
wholesale  tradesman — he  is  but  a  tradesman,  and  not  a  merchant 
in  the  true  spirit  of  that  word.  It  is  the  speculative  spirit  alone 
which  marks  the  real  merchant.  And  the  use  of  this  spirit,  when 
kept  subordinate  to  his  actual  clearly  known  means,  and  requires 
from  him  a  prevision  and  observation  of  all  possible  results  that 
may  occur,  is  what  procures  for  him  a  character  for  prudence. 
And  yet  how  often  does  accident,  by  an  unusual,  hidden  and 
suddenly  self-created  train  of  circumstances  change  the  results  of 
the  wisest  combination.  Stock  on  hand,  importations,  supply, — 
these  are  usually  the  main  points  of  most  speculations  in  trade  to 
which  miscalculations  have  often  given  rise  in  corn  and  cotton, 
which  latter  occupied  me  daily  and  almost  hourly.  The  reader 
will  see  something  about  it  in  most  of  the  following  pages,  but  I 
must  be  allowed  to  record  one  example  here.  In  one  of  the 
years  when  British  consumption  of  cotton  appeared  to  be  on  the 
progressive  decline,  it  yet  on  one  occasion  appeared  to  revive  and 
exhibit  fresh  vigor.  People  remarked  important  consignments  of 
raw  material  to  the  consumers,  the  spinners,  and  judged  there- 
from that  they  had  not  only  exhausted  their  regular  supply,  but 
that  they  would  infallibly  come  into  the  market  again  as  pur- 
chasers. The  expression  "  delivered  to  the  trade,"  although  it 
announced  no  positive  sales,  still  suggested  the  momentarily 
existing  and  pressing  need  of  the  material.  And  what  did  I 
discover  in  the  course  of  the  same  year.  The  head  of  the  great 
spinning  and  manufacturing  establishment  of  Messrs.  Strutt,  in 
Derbyshire,  who  never  required  less  annually  than  10,000  bales 
of  cotton,  had  convinced  themselves  that  the  pressure  on  the  raw 
material  had  reached  the  lowest  degree,  and  that  the  prices  would 
not  probably,  for  many  a  year,  be  so  low  as  at  present.  They 
therefore,  commanded  all  that  they  would  need  for  three  years  at 
once,  30,000  bales,  which  they  purchased  quietly,  by  means  of 
their  brokers,  who  did  not  fail  in  their  weekly  circulars  to  set 
this  quantity  down  as  "  delivered  to  the  trade."  The  reader  will 
easily  understand  that  the  purchase  by  a  single  house  of  such  a 
quantity  of  cotton  did  not  exhibit  the  true  amount  of  a  year's 


SPECULATION.  313 

necessities ;  for  it  might  have  represented  ten  houses,  of  which, 
each  had  purchased  3,000  bales.  Nevertheless,  this  single 
example  had  its  influence.  A  regular  demand  was  produced, 
which  also,  was  not  caused  by  a  real  present  need  of  material,  but 
was  a  mere  delusion,  of  which,  even  many  of  the  speculators  were 
victims.  The  restoration  of  the  whole  mass  of  material  owed  its 
existence  to  a  delusion.  The  same  errors  never  have  such 
powerful  and  stirring  influence  as  in  attempts  to  monopolize  a 
branch  of  commerce.  Thus  in  the  whole  course  of  my  mercantile 
struggles,  no  single  example  of  a  successful  speculation  of  this 
kind,  that  is,  where  a  great  permanent  revolution  of  the  market 
was  aimed  at,  exists.  A  wholesale  monopolizing  purchase  of  an 
article  is  often  destroyed  by  an  attempt  to  sell  it  at  paying  prices. 
The  difference  between  the  supply  and  the  actual  regular  con- 
sumption, can  in  these  peaceful  times,  be  easily  discovered  ;  and 
therefore,  one  ordinarily  resists,  until  forced  by  necessity,  to  pay 
a  compulsory  speculation  price.  A  man  seldom  forgives  himself 
for  a  lack  of  foresight  which  another  has  made  use  of,  and  still 
less  does  he  like  to  pay  away  money  that  such  foresight  might 
have  saved  him.  Sales  on  delivery  at  unusually  high  prices 
seldom  fail,  if  the  speculator  only  choose  his  time  right,  and  take 
his  measures  accordingly. 

14 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  BUSINESS   CRISIS   OF    1825-6.— LAFAYETTE  IN  NEW 
ORLEANS. 

The  Liverpool  Cottou  Market  at  the  close  of  the  year  1824 — Sudden  rise  of 
prices,  in  January,  1825 — Manoeuvres  of  the  Liverpool  houses  to  keep  up 
the  prices — Well  calculated  course  of  the  Scotch  house  of  J.  &,  A.  Denis- 
toun  &  Co. — The  speculation  mania  in  New  Orleans — Arrival  of  General 
Lafayette  in  New  Orleans — His  reception — Anecdotes  of  him — I  accom- 
pany him,  in  the  name  of  the  city,  as  one  of  its  deputies,  to  Natchez- 
State  of  the  Cotton  Market  when  I  arrived  in  Natchez. 

At  my  arrival  in  Liverpool,  where  I  went  on  my  return  to  the 
United  States,  I  found,  as  is  usual  in  the  beginning  of  autumn, 
that  the  whole  Exchange  was  engrossed  in  calculations  as  to  the 
probable  position  of  the  cotton  market  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
Men  would  not  listen  to  the  news  that  all  the  supply  in  the  Atlan- 
tic ports  was  exhausted,  but  calculated  that  the  shipments  of  what 
remained  of  the  old  crop,  and  the  abundant  produce  of  the  new, 
from  October  1,  to  the  end  of  the  year,  would  reach  250,000  bales. 
From  that  came  the  calculation,  that  the  stock  of  American  cot- 
ton in  England,  proportioned  to  the  then  consumption,  would  be 
about  200,000  bales.  My  simple  question,  "  What  will  be  the 
consequence  if  the  supply  do  not  transcend  100,000  bales,"  was 
met  by  the  reply,  that  a  sudden  rise  of  a  penny  a  pound,  or  fifteen 
to  twenty  per  cent.,  was  the  universal  conviction. 

I  reached  New  York  about  the  middle  of  November.  With  the 
foregoing  information  about  the  Southern  harbors,  and  a  list  of  all 
exportations  which  had  taken  place  meantime,  I  perceived  that,  in- 
stead of  an  export  of  150,000  bales  of  the  old  crop,  scarce  30,000  had 
been  sent  off  in  the  months  of  October  and  November,  and  that 
the  month  of  December  could  not  and  would  not  furnish  20,000 


GREAT  RISE  IN  COTTON  315 

bales.  I  hastened  to  New  Orleans.  Here  I  foujd  two  ships  in 
the  hands  of  my  house,  which  we  were  to  load  for  the  account  of 
a  Quaker  firm  in  New  York.  This  was  done  at  the  prices,  11, 
11£,  and  12  cents.  We  also  sent  off  a  cargo  of  900  bales  on  our 
own  account.  The  prices  had  no  direct  tendency  towards  a  rise, 
but  the  expectation  of  such  a  rise  was  evident,  by  the  willingness 
with  which  the  prices  demanded  were  paid.  I  therefore  determi- 
ned to  buy  1000  bales  more  on  my  own  account,  and  to  keep  it 
ready.  The  prices  raised  but  little,  and  we  sent  off  another  cargo 
on  our  own  account. 

I  supposed  that  about  the  middle  of  February  we  would  receive 
information  about  the  stock  of  American  cotton  on  hand  in  Liver- 
pool, at  the  close  of  the  year,  if  the  regular  packets  between 
Liverpool  and  New  York  should  make  short  passages ;  and  I  pos- 
sessed, in  advance,  the  certainty  which  could  not  be  had  in  Liver- 
pool, that  it  could  not  possibly  surpass  100,000  bales.  Already, 
on  the  12th  of  February,  my  fears  were  aroused,  lest  the  news  of 
the  scanty  condition  of  the  Liverpool  market,  at  the  close  of  the 
year,  should  find  us  careless  and  unprepared.  Driven,  then,  by 
my  own  impatience,  I  sent  our  clerk,  Ferriday,  who  was  accus- 
tomed to  make  all  our  purchases  with  zealous  diligence,  to  the 
suburbs,  where  the  cotton  market  is  always  held,  and  instructed 
him  not  to  return  with  empty  hands,  nor  without  having  purchased 
at  least  1500  bales  for  our  house,  at  the  current  prices.  My  last 
words  were,  "  Do  not  stand  upon  trifles,  but  buy."  He  fulfilled 
the  commission,  and  bought  2000  bales. 

Two  days  later,  on  February  14th,  at  noon,  a  neat,  fast  sailing 
schooner  brought  me,  from  the  two  Quaker  houses,  Francis 
Thompson  &  Nephews,  and  Jeremiah  Thompson,  in  New  York, 
the  news  of  the  close  of  the  Liverpool  market,  on  December  21, 
1824.  and  the  commission  to  purchase  10,000  bales  for  them  and 
for  Cropper,  Benson  &  Co.,  of  Liverpool,  at  the  current  prices. 
The  stock  of  American  cotton  in  Liverpool  was  exactly  as  I  had 
anticipated — there  were  but  100,000  bales  there — and  the  conse- 
quence of  so  unusually  small  a  supply  was  precisely  the  fulfilment 
of  the  knowing  people's  prophecies.  There  was  a  sudden  rise  of 
a  penny.     The  first  re-action  on  our  market  at  New  Orleans  was 


316  IN  1826, 

a  rise  of  throe  cents.  Whosoever  was  engaged  in  the  coLton  trade 
and  was  a  cotemporary  of  that  remarkable  year,  1825,  will 
remember  the  frenzy  that  seized  all  speculators,  first  in  England, 
and  then,  by  infallible  consequence,  in  the  United  States.  In  spite 
of  the  disposition  of  my  adopted  countrymen  to  take  fire  easily, 
the  rise  in  American  shipment  prices  did  not  move  so  rapidly  as 
the  spirit  of  speculation  in  England,  for  there  the  prices  rose  110 
per  cent,  but  in  the  United  States  not  more  than  85.  We  turned 
most  of  our  own  local  stock  into  money,  gaining  thereby  $60,000 ; 
and  from  the  first  cargo  sent  to  Liverpool,  in  the  brig  Ocean,  Cap- 
tain Bond,  950  bales,  we  received  a  return  from  the  house  of 
Cropper,  with  the  unexampled  gain  of  £11,460.  Besides  a  share 
in  the  cargoes  shipped  in  union  with  the  Messrs.  Cropper  and 
Thompson,  we  had  two  others,  which  arrived  in  Liverpool  about 
ten  days  after  the  950  bales,  but  costing  about  ten  per  cent,  more, 
on  which  the  Croppers  could  have  gained  quite  as  much,  had  they 
chosen.  They,  however,  thought  it  judicious  to  throw  away  the 
enormous  profit  of  eighty  per  cent.,  because  they  would  not,  by 
"  ill-timed  sales,"  interfere  with  their  own  pre-conceived  views  of 
the  future  of  the  cotton  market,  nor  stop  the  revolution;  but  the  con 
sumers,  the  spinners,  would  force  them  to  withdraw  their  extortion 
ate  claims.  With  very  few  exceptions,  all  the  cotton  traders  became 
quiet  participants  in  this  coalition.  The  higher  the  article  rose, 
so  rose  also  the  resolution  of  the  spinners  not  to  pay  the  unheard 
of  price  which  was  demanded — they  scarcely  bought  at  all.  But 
the  leaders  of  the  countless  troop  of  speculators,  Messrs.  Cropper, 
Benson  &  Co.,  with  their  fellow-quakers,  Rathbone,  Hodgson  & 
Co.,  in  union  with  the  brokers,  Cooke  &  Comer,  were  enabled  to 
avoid,  what  under  usual  circumstances  would  have  been  the 
inevitable  result  of  this  opposition,  to  wit,  a  fall  of  prices,  by 
always  permitting  underhand  sales,  or  by  supporting  new  buyers, 
who  found  means  to  come  into  the  market,  who  in  the  end  only 
gave  out  their  own  names.  The  Manchester  spinners,  though 
pressed  by  necessity  to  accept  the  high  prices,  had  as  yet  bought 
as  little  as  possible,  and  finally  came  to  the  resolution  not  to  buy 
at  all.  The  whole  month  of  May  passed  over  without  one  single 
important  sale  having  taken  place. 


AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES.  317 

The  letters  of  the  Quaker  firms  to  their  correspondents  contained 
the  words,  "  Nothing  can  equal  the  firmness  of  our  holders."  The 
words  should  have  been,  "  Nothing  can  equal  the  firmness  of  our 
holders  but  the  unbending  obstinacy  of  the  consumers,  to  econo- 
mize their  stock  as  much  as  possible,  and  to  buy  no  more  than 
positive  necessity  demands."  The  ground  upon  which  the  super- 
structure of  this  mighty  speculation  rested  was  hollow,  and  must 
inevitably  give  way,  and  carry  the  whole  fabric  with  it  to  destruc- 
tion. The  expectation  that  the  spinners,  at  the  sight  of  the  rising 
prices,  must  necessarily  provide  themselves  with  the  raw  material 
at  any  cost,  was  the  groundwork,  and  the  belief  in  the  insufficiency 
of  the  expected  importations  was  the  foundation,  of  the  whole 
speculation.  Both  of  these  calculations  were  ill  made.  The  spin- 
ners knew  too  well  that  they  could  find  no  buyers  for  their  fabrics 
at  prices  commensurate  with  those  of  the  raw  material,  and  that, 
consequently,  they  could  only  manufacture  at  great  loss  to  them 
selves ;  and  the  importers,  allured  from  all  the  markets  and  cor- 
ners of  the  earth,  surpassed  all  and  every  calculation  that  had 
been  made.  From  Brazil,  of  which  the  exportable  cotton  crop 
for  five  years  had  been  reckoned  at  175,000  bales,  came  suddenly 
just  twice  that  quantity,  350,000  bales.  Stiff-necked,  well-to-do 
planters  had  annually  kept  back  a  portion  of  their  crops  when  the 
prices  did  not  suit  them.  This  no  one  knew  >  and  it  may  serve 
as  a  universal  proof  of  the  assertion  that,  in  wholesale  specula- 
tions, particularly  in  those  which  take  their  rise  in  a  view  to 
monopoly,  that  human  foresight  is  never  sufficiently  great  to  cal- 
culate upon  all  the  circumstances  which  may  belong  to,  or  result 
from  its  actions. 

The  month  of  May,  with  its  enforced  activity  in  the  cotton- 
market,  was  scarcely  gone,  when  the  Scottish  house  of  James  and 
Alexander  Denistoun  &  Co.,  of  Glasgow,  received  in  Liverpool 
5000  bales,  from  New  Orleans ;  and  under  the  direction  of  the 
clever  head  of  the  firm,  Mr.  James  Denistoun,  then  president  of 
the  bank  of  Scotland,  in  Glasgow,  determined  to  offer  the  whole 
importation  for  sale.  The  Quaker  confederation  implored  them 
to  keep  up  the  price,  which  was  for  Georgia  cotton,  15 J  to  16 
pence,  but  in  vain.     The  5000  bales  were  sold  at  from  2\  to  2} 


518  LAFAYETTE  ARRIVES  IN  WASHINGTON: 

below  the  standing  price  ;  and  when  it  is  recollected  that  a  fall  o 
one  farthing,  under  the  ordinary  price  of  cotton,  will  prevent  an} 
one  in  Liverpool  from  buying,  it  will  easily  be  understood  that  a 
sale  at  from  15  to  16  per  cent,  under  current  prices  offered  a  cleai 
proof  that  all  the  calculations  were  shown  to  be  false,  that  the 
elasticity  of  the  market  had  been  unnaturally  tried,  and  that  spin- 
ners had  perfectly  understood  the  whole  combination.  The  deter- 
mination of  the  Scottish  firm  arose  from  the  simple  observation 
of  the  fact  that  the  extraordinary  importations  allured  by  the  high 
prices  had  already,  in  the  beginning  of  June,  collected  more  cotton 
in  Great  Britain  than  the  greatest  possible  consumption  of  the 
whole  year  could  demand ;  and  hence,  that  every  pound  of  the 
raw  material,  which  might  arrive  from  that  time  forth,  must  be 
seen  by  every  clear-sighted  importer  to  be  simply  superfluous,  and 
to  add  to  an  already  unnecessary  stock.  In  another  five  months 
the  new  American  crop  would  be  ready,  and  it  was  promising  to 
be  very  abundant. 

In  the  beginning  of  April,  precisely  when  the  wildest  spirit  of 
speculation  was  at  work  in  New  Orleans,  and  was  occupying  our 
almost  entire  attention,  came  General  Lafayette,  an  arrival  which 
alone  could  have  created  a  diversion.  Although  in  the  whole  pop- 
ulation of  the  city  and  its  environs  not  one  comrade  in  the  war  of 
independence,  nor  even  one  personal  acquaintance,  except  myself, 
was  there  to  greet  him,  still  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  had 
been  received  everywhere  was  intense  in  Louisiana,  from  the  fact 
of  most  of  the  inhabitants  being  of  French  extraction  ;  and  men 
were  more  anxious  to  venerate  the  historic  importance  of  the  actor 
in  the  French  revolution,  than  of  the  then  young  but  now  gray~ 
haired  hero  of  the  American.  The  general  had  arrived,  before  the 
opening  of  the  Congress  of  December  8, 1824,  in  Washington,  and 
had  employed  the  intervening  time  in  visiting  the  states  of  New 
York,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  and  Massachusetts.  He  passed 
through  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Maryland,  on 
his  way  to  Washington,  and  it  was  there  that  the  then  speaker  of 
the  House,  the  late  Henry  Clay,  introduced  him,  on  the  10th  De- 
cember, into  the  Hall  of  Representatives,  and  presented  him  to 
both  houses  therein  assembled.     Tho  roomy  and  richly-decorated 


IS  WELCOMED  BY  HENRY  CLAY.  319 

hall  held  on  this  occasion  2,000  persons,  with  all  the  foreign  min 
isters,  except  the  French  ambassador  of  the  Bourbons.  The  Mar 
quis  afterwards  told  me,  that  although  he  had  witnessed  very 
many  assemblies  in  his  own  country,  never  had  he  received  such 
an  impression  as  from  this  one ;  and  that  he  had  never  been  so 
thoroughly  moved  by  the  eloquence  of  any  man,  not  even  by  that 
of  Mirabeau,  as  by  the  clear  and  spirited  ring  of  the  voice  of 
Henry  Clay.  "  It  was,"  he  said,  "  the  voice  of  a  nation,  making 
itself  heard  by  the  mouth  of  a  great  man."  The  whole  house,  as 
if  stricken  by  the  wand  of  an  enchanter,  had  risen  to  their  feet  as 
Clay  entered,  leading  Lafayette  by  the  hand.  They  sat  down  at 
the  conclusion  of  the  welcoming  speech,  but  arose  again  at  the 
first  signs  of  a  reply.  They  expected  him  to  take  his  spectacles 
and  a  written  answer  from  his  pocket;  but  after  a  moment's 
pause  he  spoke,  extemporaneously,  and  in  English.  To  Clay's  re- 
mark, that  he  was  the  witness  of  his  own  future,  he  replied,  that 
when  he  there  found,  in  the  sons  of  his  former  and  now  departed 
friends,  the  same  spirit  for  the  general  weal,  as  well  as  tjti.e  same 
personal  friendship  for  him,  no  future  spread  itself  before  him. 
The  Congress,  as  is  well  known,  voted  to  the  general,  as  a  testi- 
monial of  the  national  gratitude,  $200,000,  and  200,000  acres  of 
land,  which  the  general  chose  in  the  newly-received  state  of 
Florida,  which  had  just  been  purchased  from  Spain,  it  having  been 
allowed  him,  as  a  condition  of  the  present,  to  choose  from  any 
unoccupied  public  lands  in  the  United  States.  After  this  present, 
the  general  resolved  to  visit  all  the  States,  if  only  for  a  couple  of 
days,  which,  in  the  session  of  Congress,  had  voted  for  the  present. 
Therefore  he  left  Washington,  and  passed  through  Virginia,  North 
and  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Alabama,  to  Mobile,  where  he 
found  a  deputation  from  *  New  Orleans,  headed  by  the  governor, 
who  had  come  to  welcome  him,  and  conduct  him  to  their  city.  As 
I  learned  from  the  governor,  his  first  question  about  New  Orleans 
was  whether  I  were  there,  and  he  seemed  pleased  at  receiving  an 
affirmative  answer.  The  legislature  of  the  state  had  arranged  his 
reception  with  the  common  council  of  the  city.  The  residence  of 
the  common  council,  the  Mayory,  was  entirely  refitted,  admirably 
adorned,  and  newly  and  luxuriously  furnished.     A  table,  with 


320  VISITS  NEW  ORLEANS  AND  NATCHEZ. 

thirty  covers,  was  set  every  day  during  the  general's  stay,  in 
order  that  he  might  become  acquainted  with  the  principal  inhabit- 
ants and  planters.  I  will  not  speak  of  other  festivities — balls,  the- 
atres, &c.  Finally,  one  of  the  best  steamers  was  procured,  and 
kept  ready  for  a  visit  to  Natchez  and  the  state  of  Mississippi, 
with  a  deputation,  consisting  of  the  governor,  a  member  of  thf 
legislature,  a  member  of  the  common  council,  and  a  delegate  from 
all  the  most  important  classes  in  the  country — planters,  lawyers, 
merchants,  &c. — chosen  by  the  general  himself.  When  he  looked 
over  the  list,  and  came  to  the  names  of  the  merchants,  he  desig- 
nated me  as  the  person  who,  as  an  old  acquaintance,  would  be 
most  agreeable  to  him.  By  his  wish  I  visited  him  every  morn- 
ing after  breakfast,  on  which  occasions  he  questioned  me  freely 
about  men  and  things  in  Louisiana.  One  morning  he  acknowl- 
edged to  me  that  his  purse  was  but  meagrely  furnished.  "  Cer- 
tainly," he  said,  "  Congress  has  granted  me  money  enough,  but  I 
have  not  as  yet  received  one  cent  of  the  $200,000,  because  the 
treasury  was  not  at  the  moment  prepared  to  pay  it ;  therefore,  I 
am  in  need  of  money  ;  can  you  give  it  me  ?"  My  answer  may 
be  divined.  I  placed  my  cash-box  at  his  disposal ;  but  he  only 
wanted  $1200,  which  I  brought  him  the  same  day.  I  asked  for 
no  receipt,  but  begged  him  merely,  when  he  should  return  to  the 
North,  and  visit  Boston,  at  his  convenience  to  give  the  sum  to 
my  friend  there,  Mr.  John  Richards.  The  general  insisted  on 
giving  a  receipt,  and  put  one  into  my  hand  the  next  morning,  which 
I  have  retained,  although  the  debt  has  been  paid. 

The  voyage  to  Natchez  gave  me  better  opportunities  of  seeing 
the  general,  and  of  enjoying  his  conversation,  than  would  other- 
wise have  been  possible.  The  whole  of  the  great  cabin  of  the 
steamboat  was  for  the  general's  convenience.  Above  this,  on  the 
deck,  was  erected  a  large  convenient  saloon,  wherein  the  eating 
was  carried  on,  and  where  people  passed  the  time  as  well  as  they 
could.  In  it  were  sofas,  play-tables,  cards,  and  books.  The  gov- 
ernor of  Louisiana,  by  name  Johnson — a  most  ordinary  kind  of 
man,  ill-instructed,  and  of  most  unpolished  manners,  in  many  re- 
spects a  true  child  of  nature — sat  on  the  general's  right  hand. 
The  seat  at  the  left  hand  was  reserved  for  me  ;   and  at  breakfast 


VOYAGE  UP  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  321 

the  general  was  wont  to  say,  "  If  you  have  anything  to  talk  about, 
let  us  go  down  to  my  room  and  talk."  Such  invitations  wrere  the 
more  welcome  because  I  could  not  accept  them  as  often  as  I 
wished,  and  I  had  avoided  them,  as  far  as  the  resting-points  of  the 
trip  were  concerned.  As  the  dwellers  on  the  banks  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi had  expected  the  arrival  and  voyage  of  the  general, 
wherever  the  steamer  that  carried  the  nation's  guest  was  recog- 
nized, by  the  numerous  decorative  flags,  they  hastened,  so  soon  as 
it  was  seen  in  the  distance,  to  assemble  in  some  house,  and  to 
make  the  welkin  ring  with  their  shouts  of  welcome.  Where  the 
houses  were  numerous,  or  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  a 
village — like  Baton  Rouge,  for  instance — the  boat  would  stop,  and 
the  general  would  receive  the  deputations  that  came  on  board  to 
greet  him,  or  the  single  personages  who  desired  to  be  presented 
to  him.  The  deputations  usually  came  with  their  speaker  at  the 
head.  Of  course,  in  most  instances,  the  speaker  was  more  occu- 
pied in  exhibiting  his  cleverness  and  oratorical  talent,  than  with 
the  object  of  his  mission,  or  a  desire  to  give  pleasure  to  the 
hearer.  And  the  good  general  had  no  remedy  for  this  evil,  but 
was  compelled  to  listen  attentively  to  the  longest,  stupidest, 
wordiest  discourses  possible.  I  never  saw  a  mark  of  impatience 
upon  his  countenance.  So  soon  as  the  infliction  was  brought  to 
an  end,  he  always  had  ready  a  few  suitable  and  flattering  words. 
The  ease  with  which  he  performed  this  task  greatly  astonished 
me.  I  could  not  refrain  one  day  from  asking  him  how  he  man- 
aged  always  to  reply  to  the  most  silly  and  idealess  speeches, 
"  My  friend,"  he  answered,  "  it  is  not  hard.  I  listen  with  great 
attention  until  the  speaker  drops  something  that  pleases  me,  or 
that  gives  opportunity  for  a  repartee,  and  then  I  think  about  my 
reply,  and  arrange  it ;  but  of  all  the  rest  I  do  not  hear  a  syllable 
— it  all  blows  over  me." 

But  on  other  less  important  occasions  his  readiness  and  power 
in  answering  was  really  remarkable.  At  Baton  Rouge,  two 
young  men  were  presented  to  him.  The  inevitable  hand-shaking 
was  the  usual  prelude  to  a  short  dialogue ;  but  the  young  men  stood 
mute  before  the  general  and  gazed  at  him  silently.     At  length  he 

asked  one  of  them,  "  Are  you  married  f '     "  Yes.  sir,"  was  the 

14* 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FRANCE. 

answer.  "Happy  man,"  quoth  the  general.  He  then  put  the 
same  question  to  the  other,  "  and  you,  sir,  are  you  married  V9 
"  No,  sir,"'  was  the  answer  ;  "  I  am  a  bachelor."  "  Lucky  dog  !" 
said  the  general.  In  these  words  which  fell  from  the  general,  and 
which  I  cannot  render  happily  into  German,  both  received, 
married  man  and  bachelor,  a  witty  compliment  on  his  social 
position. 

On  my  first  visit  to  the  general's  room,  I  begged  permission  to 
be  allowed  to  address  any  questions  that  might  come  into  my 
head,  to  him  who  had  a  world-full  of  experience.  The  occur- 
rences which  took  place  in  the  first  days  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, the  scenes  at  Versailles,  the  leading  out  of  the  unfortunate 
queen,  Marie  Antoinette,  upon  the  balcony  of  the  palace,  where 
he  had  kissed  her  hand,  as  a  proof  of  peace  and  good  understand- 
ing between  them,  before  the  thousands  who  were  gathered  in 
the  palace  court  and  in  the  Avenue  de  Versailles,  and  many  of 
whom  had  come  there  with  ill-intent ;  the  joy  that  followed  his 
assurance  to  the  people  that  the  royal  family  would  go  to  Paris. 
To  hear  all  these  circumstances  described  by  his  own  lips,  and 
with  the  greatest  modesty  and  simpleness,  was  a  genuine  treat  to 
me.  Great  as  was  his  modesty,  however,  he  could  not  conceal 
the  pleasure  caused  by  these  recollections  of  his  earlier  popularity 
and  influence.  Popularity  was  the  god  that  ruled  him,  and  to 
which  on  no  occasion  of  his  life  had  he  ever  refused  his  service. 
I  had  already  seen  this  during  his  stay  in  New  Orleans,  and  on 
our  trip  up  the  Mississippi,  and  some  years  later  during  the  July 
revolution  in  Paris,  these  convictions  increased.  To  be  the  idol 
of  the  people  was  the  deepest  desire  of  his  heart,  and  the  fulfill- 
ment of  this  desire  he  could  only  attain  to  in  a  republic.  That 
he  knew — but  I  would  do  him  injustice  were  I  to  ascribe  his 
republicanism  to  this  source  alone.  He  was  a  republican  by 
conviction,  and  from  the  centre  of  his  soul  out.  The  lessons  that 
he  had  received  at  the  side  of  Washington,  and  under  the  victorious 
banners  of  the  Union,  he  faithfully  followed  throughout  his  life, 
and  the  idea  that  this  form  of  government  and  none  other  could 
make  his  country  happy  was  guarded  in  his  breast  as  a  holy  thing. 
In  this  he  found  the  only  panacea  for  the  cure  of  the  many  evils 


MY  RETURN  TO  NEW  ORLEANS.  323 

under  which  France  was  suffering.  On  one  of  our  morning  con- 
versations he  spoke  about  the  Bourbons,  on  whose  political  and 
moral  unimportance  he  looked  with  pity,  and  from  whom  he 
wished  that  France  were  freed  so  soon  as  possible.  The  well- 
known  remark  of  Talleyrand,  that  they  had  forgotten  nothing, 
and  learned  nothing,  he  thought  described  them  better  than  all 
that  other  men  had  said  about  them.  "  France,"  said  Lafayette, 
"  cannot  be  happy  under  the  Bourbons,  and  we  must  send  them 
adrift.  It  would  have  been  done  ere  now  but  for  Lafitte." 
"  Indeed,"  I  said  ;  "  how  so  V  "  It  is  not  too  long  ago,"  said  the 
general,  "for  you  to  remember  that  two  regiments  of  guards, 
( ordered  to  Spain,  under  the  Due  d'Angouleme,  stopped  at 
'  Toulouse,  and  began  to  show  symptoms  of  revolt.  The  matter 
was  quieted  however,  and  kept  as  still  as  possible.  But  all  was 
ready,  as  I  know  by  my  private  correspondence  with  some  of  the 
officers — all  that  was  wanting  to  make  a  revolution  succeed  was 
money.  I  went  to  Lafitte ;  but  he  was  full  of  doubts,  and  dilly- 
dallied with  the  matter.  Then  I  offered  to  do  it  without  his  help  ; 
said  I,  '  On  the  first  interview  that  you  and  I  have  without  wit- 
nesses, just  put  a  million  of  francs  in  bank  notes  on  the  mantel- 
piece, which  I  will  pocket,  unseen  by  you.  Then  leave  the  rest 
with  me.'  Lafitte  still  fought  shy  of  it,  deliberated,  hesitated,  and 
at  last  declared  that  he  would  have  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  it." 

I  could  not  conceal  my  surprise,  and  said,  "  Had  I  heard  this 
story  from  any  lips  but  yours,  general,  I  could  not  have  believed 
a  word  of  it."  Lafayette  merely  answered,  "  Cetait  pourtant 
ainsi"  This  may  serve  as  a  testimony  how  hotly  the  revolu- 
tionary fire  still  burned  in  the  old  man,  in  spite  of  all  his  exterior 
coolness  and  repose. 

After  our  arrival  at  Natchez,  where  we  took  part  in  the  general 
festivities  held  for  a  couple  of  days  in  honor  of  Lafayette,  we 
took  our  leave  of  him,  and  returned  to  New  Orleans.  There  I 
found  the  speculation  fever  still  raging.  I  had  instructed  my  two 
partners  not  to  buy  during  my  absence  one  single  pound  of 
cotton,  and  had  received  their  promise  to  that  effect.  I  was 
therefore,  the  more  indignant  that  my  good  but  feeble  friend 
Hollander,  had  allowed  himself  to  be  talked  over  by  my  youngest 


324  MY  RETURN  TO  NEW  ORLEANS. 

partner,  an  Englishman,  named  Parker,  into  buying  at  seventeen 
cents,  800  bales,  the  pick  of  the  crop,  which  was  all  in  the  hands 
of  Reynolds,  Byrne  &  Co.  The  vertigo  of  speculation  still 
endured,  and  had  attacked  no  man  more  fiercely  than  the  seller, 
Byrne.  He  mourned  that  he  had  sold  so  much,  and  especially 
bewailed  their  sale  to  us.  News  from  Liverpool  gave  still  a 
greater  rise  in  prices, — and  in  New  Orleans,  they  mounted  to 
twenty-one  and  twenty-two  cents.  I  met  my  hot-headed  Byrne 
in  the  street,  who  again  began  to  lament  over  his  600  bales  ;  that 
they  were  all  of  the  best  sort  of  which  there  was,  and  promised 
to  be  very  little.  "  You  can  have  them  back  again  for  twenty- 
two  cents,"  said  I.  "Done,"  cried  Byrne,  hastily.  The  trade* 
was  regularly  closed,  and  the  sum  of  $16,000  gained  by  the 
operation. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  CRISIS  OF  1825-26. 

Extensive  purchase  of  cotton  for  the  house  of  Crowder,  Clough  &  Co.,  in  Liv- 
erpool— Failure  of  that  house,  and  the  establishments  connected  with  it  in 
New  York  and  Charleston — Influence  of  the  failure  on  the  position  of  my 
house — Unavoidable  suspension  of  payments — The  creditors  unanimously 
appoint  me  Syndic  of  the  Mass — Transferral  of  my  power  of  attorney  to 
my  junior  partners — My  voyage  to  England — Reception  at  Barings' — The 
true  position  of  affairs,  in  respect  to  the  Crowder  assets — First  success  in 
the  suit  brought  against  the  administrators  of  the  Crowder  assets — Ren- 
contre in  the  Birmingham  post-coach,  on  my  way  back  to  London — A  letter 
from  Mr.  Alexander  Baring — Consequences  of  the  rencontre  in  the  post- 
coach — Favorable  issue  of  my  heavy  suit  in  the  Court  of  Chancery — Lord 
Eldon  ;  the  last  decision  but  one  rendered  by  him  before  leaving  the  Miu 
istry. 

I  fancied  now  that  I  might  calmly  wait  for  the  next  cotton 
crop,  and  leave  trade  for  awhile  alone ;  but  as  the  reader  will  soon 
see,  Heaven  willed  it  otherwise.  I  wished  to  send  to  Europe  my 
eldest  partner,  Mr.  Parker,  who  did  not  know  my  correspondents, 
in  order  to  give  him  a  chance  of  seeing  matters  on  the  other  side ; 
above  all,  that  he  might  turn  into  money  any  stock  of  cotton  oe- 
longing  to  us  there  and  still  unsold.  He  arrived"  happily,  and  in 
the  idle  month  of  May,  found  the  cotton  market  unfluctuating,  and 
the  views  of  our  friends  unchanged.  It  was  not  easy  to  take  the 
step  which  the  Denistouns  had  taken  soon  after  his  arrival.  For 
in  the  first  place,  the  question  was  not  simply  about  the  stock  be- 
longing to  us  in  Liverpool,  but  of  the  rest  which  we  owned  in 
connection  with  the  house  of  Cropper,  and  with  Thompson,  who 
rendered  a  sale  impossible,  for  they  had  the  upper  hand,  and  their 
politics,  that  is,  their  views  of  the  future  of  the  cotton  market,  as 
also  of  the  judiciousness  of  the  measures  which  were  to  aid  the 


326  MORE  ORDERS  FOR  COTTON. 

accomplishment  of  those  views,  were  directly  opposed  to  a  forced 
sale  of  our  share — so  then  nothing  happened. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  state  of  affairs  in  New  Orleans  had  taken 
another  aspect.  A  certain  Mr.  Lazarus  came  in  a  schooner,  dis- 
patched from  Charleston  to  New  Orleans ;  he  had  made  purchases 
there  for  the  Croppers,  Thompsons,  and  others,  and  he  brought 
me  the  newest  and  most  important  news  from  Liverpool,  as  well 
as  a  letter  from  Mr.  Clough,  partner  of  the  Liverpool  house  of 
Crowder,  Clough  &  Co.  This  house,  which  I  knew  very  well,  was 
not  of  the  first  class,  but  was  at  the  head  of  the  second  class,  and 
possessed  very  good  credit.  Mr.  Lazarus  proved  to  me  that  this 
firm  had  deserved  well  in  the  course  of  the  current  year,  by  the 
compared  lists  of  shipments  made  from  Charleston  for  their  own 
account,  and  of  the  sales  which  had  taken  place,  and  which  had 
more  or  less  to  do  with  the  results  of  our  shipment  by  the  brig 
Ocean.  The  object  of  Mr.  Clough,  and,  with  the  house  of  Wey- 
man,  of  Charleston,  and  in  New  York,  connected  with  him,  was  to 
lay  hands  firmly  and  early  upon  a  large  amount  of  cotton,  in  ex- 
pectation of  an  endurance  of  the  high  prices,  in  order  to  turn  it 
into  money  again,  and  win  a  large  profit  by  the  operation,  so  as 
to  ship  the  purchase  to  Liverpool,  if  matters  there  should  remain 
as  they  then  were.  This  information  was  accompanied  by  a  let- 
ter of  credit  upon  us  for  $50,000,  from  Leroy,  Bayard  &  Co.,  of 
New  York,  whose  credit  stood  very  high  with  us,  and  another  for 
the  same  sum  from  the  Weymans.  The  first  of  these  letters  of 
credit  was  positive ;  the  other  was  not  to  be  regarded  as  unquali- 
fied, but  was  to  be  governed  by  the  particular  circumstances  of 
the  cotton  market,  and  also  by  the  condition  that  all  purchases 
should  remain  in  our  hands,  and  be  under  our  direction  ;  and  that, 
until  all  the  liabilities  of  the  Liverpool  house  should  be  settled,  a 
positive  value  could  not  be  given  to  it.  I  turned  the  affair  over, 
and  found  that  a  purchase  of  6,000  bales,  at  the  current  price  of 
21  cents,  would  need  a  capital  of  half  a  million  dollars ;  and  that 
a  commission  of  5  per  cent.,  according  to  the  New  Orleans  tariff, 
would  bring  in  $25,000.  This,  with  the  two  credits,  each  of 
$50,000,  gave  $125,000:  so  that  a  quarter  of  the  whole  commis- 
sions on  the  cotton  to  be  purchased,  and  also  25  per  cent,  of  the 


HEAVY  PURCHASE  OF  COTTON.  S27 

total  purchases  to  remain  in  our  possession,  might  be  lost,  before 
a  single  dollar  of  our  own  capital  should  be  risked.  A  fluctuation 
in  prices  must  take  place  before  the  enormous  rise  could  take  any 
definite  character,  and  before  the  real  state  of  things  could  be  de- 
termined ;  but  a  sudden  fall  of  prices  was  not  to  be  expected,  and, 
least  of  all,  could  the  possibility  of  a  fall  of  25  per  cent,  enter  the 
mind  of  any  man.  After  these  considerations  had  been  well 
weighed,  the  importance  of  the  capital  to  be  laid  out  must  be  next 
thought  of.  Half  the  commission  would  be  at  once  paid  by  the 
wholesale  purchase  on  our  part ;  and  for  the  other  half,  and  ac- 
cording to  circumstances,  their  acceptances  would  be  given  for 
two  and  three  months  from  date.  These  acceptances  were  punc- 
tually redeemed  as  they  fell  due,  and  the  bank  was  never  re- 
quested to  renew  them,  as  was  usual  in  all  other  houses  established 
in  New  Orleans,  which  in  this  way  procure  credit  from  the  bank, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  year,  and  thus  make  their 
own  credit  permanent.  Never  had  one  of  our  acceptances  been 
refused  at  the  bank ;  the  directors  knew  too  well  the  source  from 
which  they  came,  and  that  our  motive  was  to  gain  time  for  our 
not  always  negotiable  paper,  and  not  the  concealment  of  a  weak- 
ness, nor  a  want  of  capital.  I  said  above,  that  a  quarter  of  the 
commissions  would  be  paid  by  the  above-named  purchase,  and  that 
as  for  the  other  three-quarters,  time  must  be  given  for  the  negoti- 
ation of  our  paper.  The  commission  was  quite  too  important  for 
me  to  trust  to  hazard.  I  therefore  felt  the  pulse  of  the  directors 
of  the  three  principal  banks,  and  came  to  an  understanding  with 
them,  that  they  should  furnish  the  money,  and  discount  our  ac- 
ceptances in  the  cotton  market  at  the  usual  rate,  and  besides 
that  they  might  be  taken  up  when  they  fell  due,  by  the  payers, 
with  new  acceptances  at  two  months.  All  this  was  arranged  in 
one  day.  And  now,  if  the  purchases  were  to  be  made,  no  time 
was  to  be  lost.  Lazarus,  who  was  introduced  to  me  by  the  Crop- 
pers as  an  exceedingly  honest,  worthy  man,  had  assured  me  that 
the  next  report  from  Charleston  would  infallibly  bring  me,  from 
Clough  and  Weyman,  further  remittances  or  credits  to  lessen  our 
outlay.  So,  perfectly  satisfied,  I  went  to  work,  and  in  the  course  of 
one  morning  purchased  6,000  bales  of  cotton.     Lazarus  swam  in  a 


323  THE  CRASH. 

sea  of  delight  until  the  first  mail  arrived  from  Charleston,  without 
bringing  us  our  promised  remittances  or  letters.  The  second,  the 
third,  the  fourth  came  in,  all  without  letters.  Then  I  began  to 
feel  a  misgiving  that  I  had  fallen  into  a  trap,  and  that  Lazarus  had 
calculated  beforehand  how  he  might  best  lead  me,  and  get  into  my 
confidence.  He  stood  before  me  utterly  helpless,  and  seemed 
very  much  at  a  loss  what  to  do  with  his  unpromising  speculation. 
A  well-considered  regular  plan  did  not  appear  to  have  been  set- 
tled upon  between  him  and  his  confederates.  At  last  I  deter- 
mined to  send  him  to  New  York.  "  There  is  nothing  left  for  you," 
I  said,  "  but  to  reach  New  York  as  soon  as  possible,  and  thence 
to  help  us  with  remittances." 

I  did  not  now  delay  to  send  the  whole  quantity  of  cotton  pur- 
chased to  Liverpool,  to  Baring,  Brothers  &  Co.,  who  had  attended 
to  the  insurance  with  our  drafts  on  the  Liverpool  house  of  Clough, 
Crowder  &  Co.,  with  the  instructions,  that  so  soon  as  these  drafts 
were  accepted  and  paid,  or  if  the  assurance,  which  the  acceptation 
offered,  were  satisfactory  to  them,  to  deliver  the  bills  of  lading. 
The  greater  part  of  the  amount  of  the  drafts  were  taken  again 
from  the  Barings,  and  negotiated  at  the  Branch  Bank  of  the  United 
States. 

Soon  after,  my  good  friend  Hill,  head  of  the  Denistoun  firm  in 
New  Orleans,  received  the  news  of  the  sale  of  the  six  thousand 
bales  of  which  I  have  spoken.  He  showed  me  the  original  letter 
of  his  chief,  old  Mr.  Denistoun,  of  Glasgow,  which  brought  me  to 
the  conclusion  that  this  time  the  Liverpool  spirit  of  speculation 
was  at  an  end,  and  that  the  article  itself  was  on  a  slope,  down 
which  it  must  roll,  like  an  avalanche,  until  it  met  with  an  obsta- 
cle that  could  arrest  it.  After  the  sale  of  Messrs.  Denistoun,  the 
price  fell  in  July  to  11,  towards  the  end  of  the  month  to  9£  pence. 
In  the  beginning  of  August,  the  house  of  Crowder,  Clough  &  Co., 
of  Liverpool,  declared  itself  insolvent ;  the  Weymans,  in  New 
York  and  Charleston,  followed,  and  towards  the  end  of  Septem- 
ber the  news  of  these  sad  events  reached  me,  and  caused  me  to 
foresee  how,  by  the  blow  of  an  inexorable  fate,  the  irremediable 
fall  of  my  own  house — for  fourteen  years  so  successfully  conducted, 
that  it  was  regarded  as  the  first,  not  only  in  New  Orleans  but  in 


MY  INSOLVENCY.  329 

all  the  Southern  States.  It  was  a  heartrending  destruction  of  all 
that  had  made  my  life  happy  and  gratified  my  ambition.  I  will 
not  allow  myself  to  say  more  than  these  few  words  about  it.  For 
those  who  feel  in  head  and  heart  like  me  these  lines  will  be  enough ; 
for  the  superficial  reader,  they  are  already  too  much. 

To  comprehend  the  results  of  this  state  of  affairs,  and  to 
arrange  our  payments,  was  my  next  resolve ;  yet  I  held  it  my 
duty  to  notify  those  who  had  negotiated  my  acceptances,  in  con- 
sequence of  my  understanding  with  the  bank,  and  those  whose 
names  were  upon  such  as  were  negotiated  with  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States.  These  various  houses  would  soon  be  informed  by 
the  bank  that  they  must  at  once  replace  our  now  worthless  signa- 
ture by  another  ;  and  they  were  so  entirely  unprepared,  that  they 
could  find  no  other  means  than  taking  up  the  paper  with  ready 
money.  They  were  thus  placed  in  the  mournful  necessity  to  sus- 
pend their  own  payments,  although  perfectly  solvent.  They  took 
counsel  with  each  other,  however,  and  determined  very  wisely  to 
induce  me  to  renew,  from  time  to  time,  our  acceptances,  under  the 
agreement  I  had  made  with  the  bank,  until  they  should  be  in  a  con- 
dition to  take  up  their  notes  and  pay  their  liabilities.  It  was  my 
duty  to  my  hard-pressed  friends  and  neighbors  to  give  my  assent 
to  this  plan,  although  these  renewals  would  cost  something  like 
$4000  for  interest  every  sixty  days;  so  I  made  the  condition,  that 
this  money,  which  the  mass  could  not  use,  but  which  for  the  pre- 
sent must  injure  their  effects,  must  come  from  themselves  and  not 
from  the  mass.  So,  then,  I  remained  from  the  end  of  August,  for 
four  and  a  half  months,  in  the  sad  position  of  a  man  playing  before 
the  world  the  part  of  the  man  who  has  but  hope  to  enable  him  to 
strive  with  the  difficulties  which  besiege  him,  while  in  heart  I  had 
the  conviction  that  all  must  be  in  vain.  At  last,  in  the  middle  of 
January,  of  the  following  year,  1826,  my  friends  announced  to  me 
that  they  had  completed  their  preparations,  and  had  paid  in  their 
own  paper  to  the  bank.  I  then  delayed  no  longer  our  declaration 
of  insolvency,  and  handed  our  balance-sheet  into  court.  This  was 
done  January  18,  1826.  At  the  head  of  our  foreign  creditors 
were  Cropper,  Benson  &  Co.,  Liverpool,  and  Hottinguer  &  Co., 
in  Paris.     I  had  already  informed  them  in  October  of  the  proba- 


330  DEPARTURE  FOR  HAVRE. 

bly  inevitable  failure  of  our  house.  Both  firms  wrote  comforting 
and  trusting  letters  to  me,  saying  that  they  desired  me  to  man- 
age their  affairs,  and  sending  me  their  full  powers  as  creditors. 
All  the  creditors  in  New  Orleans  also,  with  the  exception  of  one 
merciful  lawyer,  to  whom  a  small  sum  was  owed,  named  me  syn- 
dic of  the  mass,  who  claimed  $1,200,000,  with  the  right  to  asso- 
ciate both  my  partners  with  me,  should  the  circumstances  of  the 
liquidation  require  it.  This  was  naturally  soon  the  case.  The 
buyers  of  cotton,  the  endorsers  of  our  paper,  and  finally  Le  Roy, 
Bayard  &  Co.,  had  sent  full  powers  to  their  English  correspond- 
ents to  seize  the  cotton  sent  to  the  Barings ;  and  the  misunder- 
standings which  arose  out  of  this  had  thrown  the  matter  into  the 
court  of  chancery — of  which  it  was  proverbially  said,  that  if  a 
man  had  a  cause  there,  he  must  expect  it  to  remain  there  at  least 
half  his  life.  The  Messrs.  Barings,  who,  by  Mr.  Holland's  advice, 
kept  themselves  perfectly  passive  in  the  matter,  would  take  no 
step  without  a  positive  order  of  the  court,  and  to  obtain  this  a 
perfect  mass  of  points  had  first  to  be  clearly  settled,  among  par- 
ties who  did  not  appear  able  to  come  to  an  understanding.  It 
was  a  perfect  labyrinth  of  difficulties,  of  which  the  clue,  according 
to  all  appearance,  would  never  be  found.  The  issue  of  the  affair 
depended  entirely  upon  the  result  of  the  suit  in  chancery.  It  was 
not  only  a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance,  but  even  of  positive 
necessity,  to  get  a  decision,  which,  according  to  English  law, 
should  give  to  every  man  his  rights.  The  local  liquidation  of  the 
debts  was  quite  a  simple  affair.  I  came  to  the  resolution  of  going 
to  Europe,  in  order  to  bring  my  wits  to  bear  upon  the  solution 
cf  the  Gordian  knot,  into  which  the  various  embarrassments  had 
tied  themselves.  My  two  partners  were  to  take  my  place  in 
New  Orleans,  and  after  having  explained  matters  to  them,  I  has- 
tened to  Europe.  Above  all,  I  instructed  my  partners  not  to 
sell,  even  for  the  most  impatient  creditors,  our  houses,  stores, 
cotton-presses,  etc.,  hastily,  since  they  composed  a  very  important 
portion  of  our  effects.  They  were  all  situated  in  the  finest  part 
of  the  suburbs,  and  offered  the  apparent  certainty,  that,  so  soon  as 
the  approaching  end  of  this  crisis,  which  occupied  all  attention 
and  made  money  very  scarce,  should  arrive,  their  value,  now  a 


*  ARRIVAL  IN  LONDON.  33 j 

mere  nominal  one,  would  be  greatly  increased.  The  absolute 
outlay  for  the  grounds  and  buildings  was  over  $155,000,  and 
figured  for  this  amount  on  the  balance-sheet.  Their  prospective 
value  could  not  be  calculated  at  the  moment,  but  was  indubitably 
greater  than  the  sum  named.  The  first  and  most  important  mat- 
ter that  I  had  at  heart  was,  in  all  my  directions  to  my  partners, 
the  interest  of  my  creditors;  and  here  I  indulged  a  hope  that  Mr. 
Alexander  Baring  might  be  induced  to  come  in  among  the  buyers, 
and  purchase  this  costly  establishment  at  a  fair  price,  in  order  to 
give  me  the  management  of  it ;  and  so  secure  to  himself  an  im- 
portant property,  and  to  me  a  sufficiency  for  the  rest  of  my  life. 

So  soon  as  I  had  reached  London,  by  the  way  of  Havre,  I 
called  on  the  Barings,  and  was  there  received  by  Mr.  Holland,  an 
honest  right-spirited  man,  but  somewhat  brusque  and  unpolished. 
"  Mr.  Nolte,"  said  he  ;  "  your  business  is  in  chancery,  and  there 
it  will  stick.  I'll  give  you  ten  years  time  to  get  it  out  of  it." 
Dull  comfort,  that.  They  sent  me  then  to  their  solicitor,  Mr. 
Edward  Lawford,  who  was  also  solicitor  to  the  Havre  East  India 
Company,  and  one  of  the  first  in  London,  and  he  dismissed  me  to 
Mr.  Low,  the  first  chancery  solicitor,  for  the  Court  of  Chancery, — 
then  under  the  Presidency  of  Lord  Eldon, — furnishing  a  peculiar 
study  of  London  legal  science  and  customs.  From  neither  of 
these  gentlemen  could  I  get  any  light.  Under  these  circumstances 
I  thought  it  advisable  to  go  to  Liverpool,  there  to  learn,  if  possible, 
from  the  lips  of  the  solicitor  of  the  Crowder  creditors,  for  what 
reasons,  and  on  what  grounds  he  had  come  to  the  absurd  resolu- 
tion to  refuse  the  whole  claim  of  my  house,  which  was  for  no  less 
a  sum  than  £123,000,  and  to  assert  that  it  was  a  mere  private 
claim  upon  Mr.  Clough,  whom  we  could  bring  to  a  reckoning,  but 
that  the  firm  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  On  my  arrival  in  Liver- 
pool, I  made  my  intentions  known  to  my  friends  there.  They 
laughed,  and  told  me  that  the  solicitor  would  neither  receive  me 
nor  hold  any  conversation  with  me.  "  Ah  !  why  not  VI  I  cried. 
"  Because,"  was  the  answer  ;  "  legal  etiquette  forbids  it.  It  is  the 
custom  here  for  an  advocate  never  to  see  the  opposer  of  his  client, 
and  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  one  but  the  latter."  Now 
this  was  precisely  against  me.     I  wanted  to  hear  with  my  owrn 


332  A  CHANCERY  LAWYER. 

ears  and  see  with  my  own  eyes,  and  not  take  the  second-hand 
impressions  of  my  solicitor.  He,  I  said  to  my  friends,  would 
advance  his  views,  while  I  wished  to  have  my  own,  and  to  act  for 
myself.  At  last  I  asked  the  name  of  the  Crowder  solicitor,  and 
what  manner  of  man  he  was.  I  learned  that  his  name  was  Lace, 
that  he  was  a  very  learned,  well-informed  man,  and  besides  that, 
lawyer  of  my  best  friends  in  Liverpool,  Thomas  and  Wm.  Earle 
&  Co.,  who  had  known  me  from  childhood ;  of  Cropper,  Benson  & 
Co.,  of  Rathbone,  Hodgson  &  Co.,  and  others.  Then,  I  begged 
these  gentlemen,  wrho  knew  me  and  my  character  so  well,  to  pay 
a  formal  visit  to  Mr.  Lace,  and  to  give  him  the  assurance  of  my 
name,  that  I  would  not  misuse  any  information  that  he  might 
deign  to  give  me,  and  that  I  had  no  idea  of  sneaking  into  his 
confidence,  in  order  so  to  undermine  the  position  he  had  taken. 
Mr.  Benson  in  particular,  and  Mr.  Leathorne  from  the  Earle  house, 
were  good  enough  to  visit  Mr.  Lace  for  me,  and  procured  for  me 
permission  to  call  on  him.  The  interview  took  place.  Lace  was, 
as  all  my  friends  had  said,  a  clever  man ;  but  his  nature  was 
certainly  irritable  and  peevish.  So,  at  least,  I  found  him.  After 
half  an  hour's  debate,  he  declared  to  me  that  his  views  oh  the 
whole  matter  were  settled,  and  not  to  be  changed.  I  then  pro- 
posed to  him,  to  shorten  the  long  course  of  the  chancery  process, 
to  give  the  affair  into  the  hands  of  three  merchants,  who  should 
settle  it  by  arbitration ;  and  to  show  how  thoroughly  convinced  I 
was  of  the  excellence  of  our  claim,  I  proposed  to  him  to  name  all 
three.  Only,  I  said,  they  must  all  be  merchants  of  the  first  rank, 
and  of  the  greatest  respectability, — and  from  London,  because  in 
Liverpool  everybody  had  more  or  less  interest  in  the  matter. 
"Mr.  Nolte,"  answered  Mr.  Lace,  "if  it  come  to  an  arbitration 
by  merchants,  there  is  not  one  in  England  who  would  not  accept 
your  views,  and  give  the  decision  in  your  favor."  "  And  in  spite 
of  this  conviction,"  said  I ;  "  how  can  you  justify  your  determina- 
tion to  let  this  drag  on  in  chancery,  and  thus  endeavor  to  take 
from  me  what  every  honest  merchant  in  England  would,  according 
to  your  own  conviction,  give  me."  "  If  you  desire  to  know  my 
grounds,"  answered  Mr.  Lace  ;  "  I  will  tell  you.  I  am  the  repre- 
sentative and  counsellor  of  all  the  English  creditors  of  the  house. 


FROM  LIVERPOOL  TO  LONDON.  333 

Your  claim  alone,  amounts  to  as  much  as  those  of  all  the  others  put 
together,  and  they  will  get  a  double  dividend  if  I  succeed  in  send- 
ing you  back  upon  Clough,  and  getting  your  claim  upon  the  house 
denied.  That  claim  I  never  can  admit  unless  compelled  to  do  so 
by  a  decree  from  the  Court  of  Chancery."  "  Mr.  Lace,"  I  said, 
"  if  these  are  your  grounds  you  cannot  be  helped  by  delay,  still 
less  can  delay  be  your  object.  Give  me  your  word  then,  to  bring 
the  matter  as  soon  as  possible  to  an  end,  you  and  your  London 
solicitor."  He  did  as  I  requested,  and  ga\e  me  a  line  to  his 
solicitors  in  London,  Messrs.  Roscoe,  instructing  them  to  aid  me 
in  all  things  that  I  desired,  for  the  rapid  progress  of  the  affair, 
and  which  would  not  interfere  with  their  own  good  rights.  With 
this  I  went  back  to  London. 

I  must  not  here  omit  a  circumstance  which  was  the  source  of 
some  unpleasantness  to  me. 

I  took  a  place  at  5  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  the  Birmingham 
coach,  the  best  conveyance  then  between  Liverpool  and  London. 
It  was  a  troubled,  misty,  unpleasant  morning.  In  the  corner  of 
the  coach  opposite  me,  wrapped  in  his  cloak,  sat  a  gloomy  looking 
person,  besides  myself,  the  only  passenger.  More  than  two 
hours  elapsed  before  the  spirit  moved  us  to  any  conversation. 
At  length  my  companion  roused  himself  and  brought  forward  the 
subject  which  always  opens  a  conversation  in  England, — the 
weather, — "  We  have  a  very  nasty  disagreeable  day  before  us,  I 
fear,"  he  remarked.  Whereupon  I  asked  him  if  he  were  going 
all  the  way  to  London.  "  No,  no,"  he  answered,  "  I  will  get  out 
at  a  pottery  near  Wolverhampton,  where  I  have  to  buy  some 
hundred  baskets  of  crockery  for  my  ship,  the  Peter  Ellis."  "  In 
order  to  send  it  to  New  Orleans,  I  suppose,"  said  I.  "  Cer- 
tainly," he  said  ;  "  but  I  beg  your  pardon,  how  did  you  know 
that  I"  "  I  did  not  know  it,"  I  replied  ;  "  I  only  guessed  it.  I 
have  seen  the  ship  several  times  in  New  Orleans.  She  was  con- 
signed to  my  friends,  Denistoun,  Hill  &  Co."  "  Oh,  ho,"  said 
he,  "  so  you  have  been  in  New  Orleans."  "  Very  often,"  said  I. 
"  How  is  the  credit  of  the  firm,"  was  his  next  question.  "  Admira- 
ble," said  I ;  "  Mr.  Hill  is  a  man  much  esteemed  and  beloved.' 
"So  I  have  always  thought,"  said  he.     "Those  gentleman,"   I 


334  STAGE-COACH  ENCOUNTER. 

continued,  "  very  often  have  ships  to  their  address  :  for  instance, 
the  Liverpool  brig  'The  Brothers,'  the  ship  'Mary  Wood,'  and 
others.  The  Liverpool  ship  '  Ottowa'  was  in  other  hands  (namely, 
in  ours),  as  well  as  many  others."  "  You  appear  to  know  our 
vessels  well,"  said  he,  "  and  also  most  of  the  English  houses  in 
New  Orleans."  "  Oh,  yes,"  I  said ;  "  I  know  nearly  all  the 
houses  of  any  position  there  pretty  well.  "  I  am  glad  to  hear  it," 
said  my  companion,  and  then  our  dialogue  continued.  "  Do  you 
know  Munro,  Milne  &  Co  V  "  Very  well.  They  are  the 
'established  correspondents  of  James  Finlay  &  Co.,  of  Glasgow." 
"  Do  you  know  P.  L.  &  Co.  1  How  do  they  stand  I*  "  So,  so, 
no  general  credit."  "  Do  you  know  G.  F.  &  Co.  ?"  "  G.  is  a 
clever  business  man  and  F.  is  a  windbag,  who,  however,  has 
thrown  into  the  firm  a  large  capital,  inherited  from  his  aunt." 
"  The  devil,"  quoth  my  interlocutor  ;  u  you  appear  to  know  them 
all.  You  must  have  lived  some  years  in  New  Orleans."  "  Yes, 
several."  "  Do  you  know  Vincent  Nolte  V  "  As  well  as  he 
knows  himself."  "  What  sort  of  a  man  is  he  V '  "  Well,"  said  I ; 
"  he  has  many  friends,  and  perhaps,  quite  as  many  foes :  take 
him  all  in  all,  however,  I  believe  he  is  a  good  sort  of  a  fellow,  and 
with  whom  folks  like  to  deal."  "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  our  captains 
like  him  very  much.  He  was  prompt  and  expeditious,  and  when 
he  had  freighted  a  vessel,  the  goods  came  down  as  fast  as  they 
could  be  received  on  board."  "  I  believe,"  said  I,  "  that  this 
praise  is  not  undeserved.  It  was  always  his  custom  to  do  quickly, 
whatever  he  undertook."  Thereupon  our  conversation  ended ; 
and  in  half  an  hour  the  coach  stopped  before  a  large  pottery 
belonging  to  Baker,  Bourne  &  Baker.  As  he  got  out  my  com- 
panion gave  me  his  card,  "  John  McNeil,  Liverpool,"  saying,  "  I 
have  found  so  much  pleasure  in  your  conversation  that  you  must 
promise  to  pay  me  a  visit  when  you  return  to  Liverpool.  I  will 
present  you  to  my  two  daughters,  and  we  will  all  receive  you 
with  pleasure."  I  of  course  was  obliged  to  give  him.  my  card  in 
exchange.  He  glanced  at  it  twice,  and  in  a  doubtful  sort  of  way 
read  it  over,  "  Vincent  Noble  !"  "  No,  sir,"  I  said ;  "  Vincent 
Nolte,  the  very  gentleman  you  were  inquiring  about."  "  Ah !  so, 
so,"  he  said.     "  Well  sir,  glad  to  have  had  a  sight  of  you.     Do 


LETTER  FROM  MR.  BARING.  335 

not  fail  to  call  when  you  come  to  Liverpool  again.     Farewell, 
sir  !"     And  so  the  coach  rolled  on. 

So  soon  as  I  arrived  in  London  I  went  to  my  chancery  solicitor, 
Mr.  Low,  showed  him  the  letter  that  Mr.  Lace  had  given  me  to 
Mr.  Roscoe,,and  said  to  him,  "Now,  Mr.  Low,  if  there  is  any 
delay,  I  will  know  where  to  look  for  the  cause  of  it :  let  us  gain 
time." 

I  had  not  failed  to  inform  Mr.  Baring,  then  at  his  country-seat, 
"  the  Grange,"  of  my  arrival,  and  somewhat  of  my  projects  ;  espe- 
cially I  spoke  of  his  purchasing  our  property  at  New  Orleans. 
After  a  delay  of  two  weeks  the  mail  brought  me  the  following 
answer : — 

"The  Grange,  Sept.  11,  1826. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  : — I  had  heard  of  your  arrival,  and  at  the 
same  time  of  your  having  gone  to  Liverpool,  and  partly  indolence, 
but  more  uncertainty  where  my  letter  would  find  you,  prevented 
my  writing  to  you.  I  shall  be  in  town  this  day  week  for  a  few 
days,  when  I  may  perhaps  catch  you.  My  house  here  is  just  now 
full  of  friends,  who  take  up  most  of  my  time,  or  I  would  propose 
to  you  to  come  and  talk  over  your  affairs  here.  ]  shall  be  happy  to 
see  you  get  on  your  legs  fairly  again,  my  dear  Sir,  and  with  cour- 
age and  care  I  have  no  doubt  of  it ;  and  although  I  am  every  day 
more  and  more  retiring  from  active  life,  I  shall  be  ready  to  give 
what  support  circumstances  will  permit.  The  Havre  scheme 
seems  by  no  means  bad,  if  there  should  be  any  opening  to  attach 
yourself  to  any  existing  house  in  good  business,  but,  generally 
speaking,  you  will  find  European  places  desperately  shaken  by 
the  late  storms  that  wrecked  so  cruelly  all  your  hopes. 

"  I  am  not  disposed,  nor  would  it  be  convenient  to  me,  to  ad- 
vance on  or  purchase  the  New  Orleans  property — it  strikes  me, 
that  by  such  a  move  you  rather  fix  yourself  again  in  the  same 
spot,  a  measure  that  may  be  doubtful.  Your  creditors  have  acted 
most  wisely  in  giving  you  their  full  power.  No  other  plan  could 
possibly  save  thern  from  the  endless  intricacies  of  law  and  equity. 
You  must  take  care  that  the  hostile  creditor,  who  refused  his 
assent,  does  not  lay  his  hands  on  you.  When  I  see  you  I  will 
talk  over  the  business  c  f  your  liquidation  with  you.     The  settle 


336  MY  ARREST  IN  LONDON. 

ment  with  Crowder's  assignees  is  most  judicious.  Of  the  various 
scrapes  I  have  seen  you  in,  that  which  at  last  brought  you  down 
was  certainly  the  one  in  which  you  had  the  least  of  blame  to  lay 
to  your  charge,  and  I  see  with  pleasure  that  resolution  does  not 
fail  you.  It  should  fail  no  man  whose  mind  is  independent  and 
well  regulated.  I  believe  I  once  before  told  you,  that  in  my 
opinion  you  stand  adversity  better  than  prosperity,  and  this  is 
the  case  with  most  people.  Keep  up  your  courage,  my  dear  Sir, 
and  I  dare  say  all  will  do  well  again.  Nobody  will  see  this  real- 
ized with  more  pleasure  than         Yours,  sincerely, 

A.  BARING." 

A  few  days  after  my  return  from  Liverpool,  one  Saturday, 
about  exchange  hours,  I  was  honored  wTith  an  unexpected  visit. 
It  was  a  sheriff  officer,  with  a  writ  against  me,  at  the  suit  of  Baker, 
Bourne  &  Baker,  for  the  sum  of  £1,000.  Now  I  remembered, 
that  among  the  exchange  paper  used  by  our  house  was  a  draft  for 
£1,000,  payable  to  this  firm,  and  accepted  by  the  Denistouns,  and 
that  this  was  one  of  the  first  notes  which  the  Barings  had  allowed 
to  be  protested.  The  reader  will  remember  that  my  compagnon 
du  voyage,  Mr.  McNiel,  had  left  the  coach  to  call  upon  this  firm. 
Our  odd  rencontre  would  naturally  be  the  first  topic  of  conversa- 
tion, and  the  Messrs.  Baker  &  Bourne  had  taken  advantage  of  Mr. 
McNiel's  information  to  lay  hands  upon  me.  My  arrest  took  place 
on  Saturday,  at  exchange  hours,  and  my  London  friends  were 
early  in  shutting  their  counting-rooms  on  Saturday,  that  they 
might  go  into  the  country.  This  was  the  case  with  the  Barings, 
Sillem,  Rucker,  and  others,  to  whom  I  could  have  gone.  So  I 
had  to  let  myself  be  carried  off  to  one  of  the  so-called  "  sponging 
houses"  in  Chancery  lane.  The  London  Sundays  are  never  too 
agreeable ;  and  to  look  at  one  through  the  grated  window  of  a 
house  in  Chancery  lane  was  anything  but  delightful.  On  Sunday 
I  wrote  to  Baring,  and  to  my  friend  Mr.  Sillem,  and  sent  the  let- 
ters early  on  Monday  morning.  Surety  was  required  that  I 
would  not  leave  the  country  until  the  question  of  the  debt  should 
be  settled.  Mr.  Sillem  gave  the  required  bonds,  and  drew  me 
out  of  my  prison  about  two  o'clock ;    a  vile  hole  it  was,  wThere 


APPEAR  IN  CHANCERY.  337 

even  a  bed  or  a  dinner  could  only  be  procured  at  a  most  exorbi 
tant  price.  The  Messrs.  Baring  undertook  to  settle  with  Baker, 
Bourne  &  Baker,  and  bought  the  draft,  on  behalf  of  ray  creditors, 
for  £333. 

My  process  went  on  its  regular  course.  It  was  my  only 
occupation — and  no  wonder — to  see  that  nothing  delayed.  The 
first  decision,  that  of  the  Vice-Chancellor,  went  against  us. 
The  judgment  was  superfluously  pronounced,  and  without  proper 
motives.  I  at  once  appealed  to  the  upper  court,  and  to  the 
Lord  Chancellor,  a$.d  chose,  as  barrister,  the  celebrated  Basil 
Montagu,  and,  by  his  advice,  the  not  less  renowned  Mr. 
Heald,«as  special  pleader.  After  many  postponements  and  plead- 
ings, which  I  never  missed,  the  matter  was  finally  decided.  One 
half  the  delay  was  caused  by  the  special  pleader  employed  by  my 
antagonists.  This,  one  of  the  most  learned  advocates  in  Eng- 
land, was  then  called  Sir  Edward  Sugden,  and  was,  by  the  last 
Derby  ministry,  made  Lord  High-Chancellor  of  England,  under 
the  title  of  Lord  St.  Leonards.  When  the  day,  previously  ap- 
pointed by  Lord  Eldon,  arrived  to  hear  the  argument,  on  some 
point  or  other  of  the  matter  debated  between  plaintiff  and  defend- 
ant, it  was  Sir  Edward's  usual  remark,  that  he  had  not  yet  had 
time  to  examine  the  thing  carefully,  and  must  therefore  beg  for  a 
further  postponement.  The  second  cause  of  the  delay  was  a  cir 
cumstance  that  it  took  me  some  time  to  understand.  During  my 
regular,  uninterrupted  visits  to  the  Court  of  Chancery,  where  he 
saw  me  take  a  seat  among  the  advocates,  instead  of  behind  Basil 
Montagu,  Lord  Eldon  became  so  familiarized  with  my  face  that 
he  knew  very  well  who  I  was,  and  what  brought  me  there.  Sev- 
eral times,  when  I  urged  Mr.  Montagu  to  get  a  day  positively 
appointed  on  which  my  case  should  be  heard,  he  would  say,  point- 
ing at  me,  "  On  Saturday  I'll  hear  the  case  of  that  American  gen- 
tleman there."  Then  turning  towards  the  clerk,  he  would  say, 
"  Let  it  be  the  first."  That  meant,  that  among  the  many  peti- 
tions which  were  placed  before  him  on  that  day,  the  papers  rela- 
ting to  me  should  be  on  top.  Saturday  is  the  day  oh  which  all 
proceedings  connected  with  bankruptcy  are  brought  up  and  dis- 
cussed.    The  list  of  the  order  in  which  they  are  to  come  up  is 

15 


338  DELAYS  IN  CHANCERY. 

printed,  and  stuck  up  on  the  door  of  the  court-room.  Every 
morning,  as  I  made  my  way  there,  I  found  at  the  head  of  this  list 
"  Nolte  vs.  the  Assignees  of  Crowder,  Clough  &  Co."  As  an 
entire  day  was  frequently  occupied  in  the  discussion  of  a  single 
point,  I  fancied  my  cause  secure.  The  list  remained  unaltered  the 
whole  week  until  Friday.  Then,  and  on  the  following  day,  Satur- 
day, I  remarked  that  the  words  above  quoted  were  no  longer  on 
the  upper  part,  but  on  the  fourth  line  ;  so  that  my  cause  was  not 
to  be  heard  until  all  the  preceding  ones  had  been  dealt  with.  This 
was  incomprehensible  to  me.  I  asked  a  variety  of  subaltern  func- 
tionaries the  meaning  of  it,  but  could  get  no  other  answer  than 
"We  do  not  know,  sir,"  or  "  By  direction  of  his  lordship."  This 
was  all  the  information  that  I  could  get.  Several  times  had  Lord 
Eldon  noted  me  and  my  petition,  and  yet  there  it  remained  fixed, 
at  its  old  place,  during  four  days  of  the  week  at  the  head,  on  Fri- 
day and  Saturday  third  or  fourth.  Finally,  I  inquired  about  the 
individual  who  prepared  the  list,  and  I  learned  that  that  excellent 
man  had  an  agreeable  custom  of  altering  the  order  of  cases  upon 
the  roll,  when  urged  to  do  so,  by  a  bribe  from  one  of  the  solicit- 
ors in  chancery.  The  case  for  which  a  solicitor  required  delay 
very  seldom  came  to  a  hearing.  Delay,  endless  delay,  was  the 
watchword  in  the  Court  of  Chancery.  The  solicitors,  whose  deal- 
ings with  their  clients  were  usually  in  writing,  in  my  time,  charged 
3s.  4d.  for  every  letter  that  they  received  and  had  to  read  ;  then 
Gs.  8d.  for  every  consultation  that  grew  out  of  the  correspondence, 
and  finally,  13s.  6d.  for  every  written  instruction  that  they  gave 
to  a  barrister.  Thus  every  conference  in  the  course  of  a  suit  cost 
.£1  2s.  The  longer  they  could  carry  on  this  amusement  the  better 
">f  course  for  their  pockets.  Herein  lay  one  of  the  manifold  causes 
of  the  year-long  delays  of  suits  in  the  Court  of  Chancery.  The 
discovery  was  important,  and  there  was  no  way  to  end  the  mat- 
ter but  by  bringing  it  to  the  notice  of  the  Lord  Chancellor.  That 
however  could  not  be  done  by  writing.  The  Lord  Chancellor, 
president  of  the  Cabinet,  and  speaker  of  the  House  of  Lords,  has 
entirely  too  much  upon  his  shoulders  to  remember  his  directions 
to  an  unknown  clerk.  I  must,  then,  speak  to  him,  but  how,  was 
the  hard  point.     One  portion  of  the  great  hall  of  the  Court  of 


"THE  GOLDEN  KEY."  339 

Chancery  was  separated  from  the  rest  by  a  single  balustrade.  At 
the  right  hand  of  the  Lord  Chancellor's  seat  was  a  small  door, 
leading  into  his  own  room,  in  which  he  robed  and  unrobed,  and 
the  custody  of  which  was  confided  to  a  door-keeper.  I  went  to 
him,  and  told  him  that  I  must  at  once  speak  to  the  Chancellor,  on 
business  of  great  importance.  The  answer  was,  "  You  can't  see 
him.  His  lordship  is  robing  himself."  I,  however,  pressed  my 
desire  very  hard,  and  supported  it  by  slipping  a  sovereign  into  the 
hand  of  the  official.  Then  he  said,  "  I'll  let  you  speak  to  his  sec- 
retary," and  so  opened  the  door.  I  reiterated  my  request  to  the 
secretary,  and  showed  him,  with  the  greatest  politeness,  that  I 
could  only  enlighten  his  lordship  upon  the  object  of  my  visit ; 
that  I  had  information  of  very  great  importance  to  give  him, 
which  would  convince  him  at  once  of  the  pressing  nature  of  the 
whole  affair.  "  Well  sir,"  he  answered,  "  on  your  own  responsi- 
bility." He  then  opened  the  door  of  the  Chancellor's  private  cham- 
ber. Lord  Eldon,  all  ready  rigged  and  robed,  was  sitting  by  a 
small  writing-table.  I  stepped  forward,  and  said,  "  My  lord." 
He  look  up,  gazed  at  me  earnestly,  but  as  though  he  knew  me, 
and  asked  "  What  do  you  want,  sir  ?"  I  related  as  rapidly  as 
possible  the  object  of  my  visit.  "  Shameful !  shameful !"  he  said. 
"  I'll  see  to  it."  Whereupon  I  made  my  bow,  and  left  the  room ; 
saying  only,  "  I  thank  you,  my  lord."  The  evil  condition  of  the 
matter  which  had  amazed  me  so  much  was  then  ameliorated,  and 
an  important  gain  of  time  made  possible  for  the  future.  Lord 
Eldon,  as  I  have  before  remarked,  seldom  found  my  opponent, 
Sir  Edward  Sugden,  ready  to  give  an  answer  to  any  part  of  the 
pleading.  "  I  am  not  just  now  prepared  to  answer  that  question, 
my  lord ;  but  I  shall  be  so  at  the  next  meeting,"  were  the  words 
which  the  lawyer  usually  returned  for  answer.  I  had  remarked 
that,  from  time  to  time,  Lord  Eldon  took  his  pencil,  and  made 
notes  upon  the  margin  of  the  petition.  "These,"  Mr.  Montagu, 
my  lawyer,  said,  "  are  notes  for  questions  which  my  lord  pro- 
poses to  bring  forward  at  the  next  hearing  of  the  case."  On  my 
further  question,  as  to  whether  it  was  possible  to  get  a  sight  of 
these  notes,  Mr.  Montague  replied  that  it  was  impossible;  but  he 
added,  laughingly,  that  they  would  be  of  the  utmost  value  to  any 


340  THE  DECISION. 

pleader  who  could  get  possession  of  them.  Now  I  gave  myself 
up  to  the  procuring  of  an  abstract  of  these  notes  for  our  pleader, 
Mr.  Heald.  I  succeeded,  by  using  the  golden  key;  which, 
as  Wieland  says,  in  his  Oberon,  will  open  every  lock.  Scarcely 
could  he  trust  his  eyes,  when  he  saw  this  proof  of  my  cleverness 
in  his  hands.  By  these  he  gained  important  knowledge,  so  as 
always  to  be  ready  to  answer  any  of  these  questions,  for  which 
Sir  E.  Swgden  required  time  and  postponement.  I  remember  one 
time  in  particular  where  a  new  "  hearing  of  the  case"  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Lord  Chancellor  for  the  next  Saturday,  and  my 
antagonist  begged  for  a  postponement.  Lord  Eldon,  however, 
answered  with  visible  decision,  "  No,  no  !  Sir  Edward,  that  will 
not  do.     I  will  hear  the  case  on  Saturday." 

At  last  the  day  of  decision  so  important  to  me  and  to  my  cre- 
ditors drew  nigh.  During  the  pleadings,  Mr.  Montagu  had  said 
to  me  at  every  question  of  the  Chancellor's,  "  His  lordship  goes 
all  the  way  with  us,"  and  prophecied  a  positive  success.  I  had 
employed  a  stenographer  especially  for  the  purpose,  and  was 
therefore  in  condition  to  send  a  copy  of  the  very  words  of  the 
Lord  Chancellor  to  New  Orleans.  It  went  entirely  in  our  favor, 
upset  the  decision  of  the  Vice-Chancellor,  and  established  as  law, 
what  had  never  before  been  so  settled  in  England,  that  the  whole 
firm  must  answer  for  the  act  of  a  single  partner  doing  foreign 
business  on  account  of  the  house,  and  that  such  act  could  not  be 
construed  to  bind  only  the  partner  who  acted,  as  had  been 
attempted  in  this  case.  This  was  the  more  important,  that,  in 
the  contrary  case,  the  dividend  on  our  whole  advance  would 
hardly  have  surpassed  three  per  cent.  I  cannot  quit  the  subject 
of  this  decision  without  recording  my  astonishment  at  the  quiet, 
self-possessed  manner  and  clearness  of  explanation  with  which 
it  was  given.  Among  the  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  cases  await- 
ing decision  ;  among  the  thousand  upon  thousand  of  affairs  which 
Lord  Eldon  had  to  occupy  his  attention,  yet  the  whole  mass  of 
circumstances,  complications,  and  queries  were  so  systematically 
arranged  in  his  brain,  and  their  connection  was  so  logical,  that  he 
was  able  to  give  his  decision  in  so  clear  and  distinct  a  manner, 
that  you  would  have  thought  he  was  reading  it,  word  for  word 


CONSULTATION  WITH  MR.  BARING.  34] 

And  yet  this  case  had  been  surrounded  with  questions  enough  to 
make  it  drag  along  for  two  years. 

The  next  step  to  be  taken  was  to  submit  myself  to  an  exami 
nation  by  the  commissioners  of  the  creditors  in  Liverpool,  and  to 
determine  for  what  amount  I,  as  creditor,  should  be  inscribed 
So  clear  a  decision  had  not  been  expected.  It  was  the  last  that 
Lord  Eldon  gave  before  quitting  the  ministry — for  he  held  his 
place  from  a  tory  ministry,  and  was  now  obliged  to  give  it  up  to 
the  new  Lord  Chancellor  Lyndhurst.  Mr.  Lace  spoke  of  a  "  re- 
hearing of  the  case,"  which  would  have  kept  me,  probably,  a 
whole  year  longer  in  England.  At  last  I  understood  what  was 
the  obstacle  to  my  admission  as  creditor.  All  protested  paper 
returned  from  abroad  is,  according  to  American  law,  subject  to  a 
loss  of  20  per  cent. ;  and  as  we  were  in  the  position  to  exact  this 
from  the  Crowder  creditors,  and  as  that  would  have  increased 
our  claim  £25,000,  it  is  no  wonder  that  Mr.  Lace  did  all  he 
could  to  oppose  us.  By  the  arrangement  of  our  endorsers  in 
New  Orleans  with  the  bank,  our  creditors  were  plainly  informed, 
that  although  bound,  by  the  letter  of  the  law,  yet  they' would  not 
be  obliged  to  pay.  There  remained  to  me,  then,  the  choice  be- 
tween a  new,  wearisome  process,  the  result  of  which  could  not  be 
foretold,  or  an  immediate  paying  into  bank  the  first  dividend, 
which  of  course  all  our  creditors  must  desire.  Finally,  I  deter- 
mined upon  the  latter  course. 

When  I  returned  to  London,  and  informed  the  Barings  of  my 
determination  to  go  at  once  to  New  Orleans,  Mr.  Holland  told 
me  that  Mr.  A.  Baring  would  be  in  town  the  next  week,  and 
wished  to  ask  me  some  questions  about  the  suit  I  had  just  won 
— he  himself  had  a  suit  which  had  been  in  chancery  for  fourteen 
years,  and  neither  knew  nor  could  guess  to  what  end  it  would 
come ;  while  mine,  for  a  sum  eight  times  as  large,  had  been  ter- 
minated in  ten  months.  I  waited  for  the  arrival  of  my  old,  es- 
teemed friend,  and  told  him  all  that  the  reader  knows  already. 
Then  I  advised  him  to  get  one  of  his  intelligent  clerks,  and  to  give 
him,  as  chief  employment,  attendance  upon  the  case,  with  instruc- 
tions to  be  vigilant  until  the  decision.  When,  eighteen  months 
afterwards,  I  saw  Mr.  Baring,  I  had  the  consolation  of  hearing  that 


342  DISASTROUS  SALE  OF  MY  PROPERTY. 

he  had  followed  my  advice,  and  had  gotten  a  decision  four  months 
before. 

Then  I  started  for  New  Orleans,  by  New  York,  and  reached 
my  former  home  in  December,  1827.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  I 
learned  what  had  been  done  with  our  property  in  New  Orleans. 
Soon  after  my  departure  in  May,  1826,  my  partner  Hollander 
became  very  ill,  and  had  left  the  place  for  the  sugar  plantation  of 
his  wife's  parents.  The  liquidation  remained,  therefore,  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Parker,  who,  at  first  a  clerk  with  William  Nott  & 
Co.,  had  been  by  their  recommendation  taken  by  us  as  a  partner. 
At  present  he  had  found  means  to  ingratiate  himself  again  with 
this  firm — no  difficult  matter,  as  Mr.  Nott  was  always  ill,  and 
Parker  very  plausible.  After  getting  a  promise  that  he  would 
be  taken  into  this  firm,  he  brought  about  a  coalition  of  the  two 
largest  local  creditors  of  my  house,  W.  and  J.  Montgomery,  and 
Mr.  Millaudon,  with  the  firm  of  Nott  &  Co.,  in  consequence  of 
which  he,  as  syndic,  resolved,  without  any  further  notice  in  the 
papers  than  one  which  appeared  that  morning,  to  sell  the  entire 
property  of  my  firm  in  a  single  lot,  for  ready  money,  at  the  put- 
ting up  price  of  $50,000,  and  bidding  not  to  be  waited  for.  This 
was  done  in  September,  a  period  of  the  year  when  half  the  white 
population  was  absent.  Of  course  the  purchasers  were  the  three 
abovenamed  firms.  When  I  visited  New  Orleans,  in  1838,  this 
property  had  been  sold  shortly  before  for  the  sum  of  $800,000, 
and  since  that  it  has  greatly  increased  in  value.  This  careless 
measure,  so  injurious  to  the  great  mass  of  our  creditors,  could  not 
be  helped.  The  whole  of  the  next  year  I  was  employed  in  the 
further  liquidation  o  *  our  debts. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

John  Quiucy  Adams  and  Andrew  Jackson,  the  two  candidates — Jackson's  lack 
of  qualifications  for  the  office — Edward  Livingston  the  first  projector  and 
leader  of  Jackson's  election — Intrigues  in  his  favor — Unworthy  means  to 
ensure  his  success — Jackson  revisits  New  Orleans,  in  182*7,  as  a  candidate — ■ 
Electioneering  manoeuvres — The  article  in  The  American,  a  New  York  paper 
— I  am  set  upon,  in  my  dwelling-house,  by  a  couple  of  his  followers — Final 
departure  from  New  Orleans — Havre — Paris — Fruitless  attempts  to  found 
a  concern  at  Havre — Acquaintance  with  an  English  banking-house,  Daly  & 
Co.,  in  Paris — It  leads  to  the  establishment  of  a  concern  at  Marseilles,  as 
branch  of  the  house  ;  Pierre  Maillet  &  Co.,  at  Martinique,  together  with 
Maillet,  Cage  &  Co.,  at  Havre,  and  Daly  &  Co.,  at  Paris,  as  sleeping  part- 
ners— Before  the  opening  of  my  new  establishment,  I  visit  England  and 
Hamburgh,  the  latter  place  only  for  five  days — Return  by  way  of  England 
and  Paris — Arrival  in  the  French  capital,  on  the  morning  of  July  27th, 
1830 — The  July  Revolution — Departure  for  Marseilles — The  failure  of 
Daly  &  Co.  follows  close  at  my  heels,  and  obliges  me  to  return  in  haste  to 
Paris — Journey  to  Havre,  in  behalf  of  Daly's  creditors — The  holding  back 
of  the  Havre  house,  and  the  consequent  impossibility  of  ferreting  out  the  true 
state  of  affairs — The  sudden  crippling  of  the  machinery  and  uprooting  of 
the  foundation  of  the  new  house  in  Marseilles  renders  its  entire  dissolution 
necessary — A  fresh  journey  in  search  of  subsistence  stares  me  in  the  face. 

The  time  for  choosing  a  new  president  was  at  hand.  The  elec- 
tion was  to  take  place  in  a  year,  and  General  Jackson  was  the 
favorite  candidate.  Probably  throughout  the  whole  Union  there 
was  no  man  who  had  more  thoroughly  disregarded  the  Constitu- 
tion than  this  man;  and  all  who  had  lived  in  his  immediate  neigh- 
borhood, who  had  known  and  observed  him,  could  not  repress  the 
positive  conviction,  that  of  all  the  candidates  he  was  the  least  fitted 
for  president ;  since  his  greatest  gifts  were  only  physical  courage, 


344  SWARTWOUT  AND  PRICE. 

intense  fieryness,  and  indomitable  will.  Respect  for  law,  or  the 
ideas  of  others,  or  command  over  his  inborn  passionateness  of 
character,  had  he  never  felt.  He  was  the  first  candidate  for  the 
presidency  who  was  brought  forward  and  elected  by  bribery, 
under  the  advice  of  the  most  corrupt  man  in  the  United  States,  a 
man  already  mentioned  in  these  memoirs,  Edward  Livingston. 
It  was  an  easy  matter  for  the  creatures  who  obeyed  his  nod  to 
find  out  the  most  popular  democrats  of  the  various  States,  who 
were  not  always  sought  for  among  the  most  respectable  inhabit- 
ants ;  to  win  them,  and  to  keep  them  by  promises  of  certain  fat 
and  honorable  offices;  to  open  their  zeal,  and,  in  a  word,  to 
make  them  satellites,  prepared  to  strain  every  nerve,  to  silence 
every  suggestion  of  conscience  that  stood  in  their  way,  and  in  the 
way  of  electing  their  candidate.  A  couple  of  examples  will  be 
enough.  A  certain  militia  colonel  by  the  name  of  Swartwout — ■ 
the  same  who,  as  the  reader  will  remember,  was  attached  by  Gen. 
Wilkinson  for  high  treason — who,  in  all  his  life,  had  never 
attempted  anything  great,  nor  been  of  the  slightest  use  to  his 
country ;  but  who  was  always  ready  to  talk  politics  Tn  every 
rum-hole  and  pot-house,  until  he  grew  to  be  quite  an  orator,  or  at 
least  to  be  taken  for  one ;  this  man  lorded  it  in  New  Jersey,  to 
which  state  he  belonged,  as  a  beloved  and  popular  man,  and  had 
it  in  his  power  to  muster  a  very  heavy  collection  of  presidential 
votes.  He  was  promised,  if  he  would  procure  a  majority  for 
Jackson  in  his  State,  the  most  remunerative  office  in  the  United 
States ;  to  wit,  the  collectorship  of  the  port  of  New  York.  New 
Jersey  gave  her  vote  for  Jackson,  and  Swartwout  got  his  price. 
One  day,  a  couple  of  years  after  this,  he  disappeared.  He  had 
gone  to  France,  and  now  lives  in  Paris ;  but  in  going  he  left  a 
slight  deficit  in  his  treasury  of  $600,000.  Part  of  this  money 
was  laid  out  in  Texas  lands ;  the  rest  he  took  with  him  in  cash. 

I  will  mention  two  other  examples.  The  marshal  of  the  United 
States  for  the  District  of  New  York,  William  Price,  who  had 
been  able  to  procure  for  Jackson  a  majority  in  New  York,  had 
received  his  office  and  other  things  as  rewrards.  At  the  defalca- 
tion of  Swartwout  he  appeared  very  active  in  his  preparations  t:. 
go  in  pursuit  of  that  gentleman.     Accordingly,  in  about  fourteen 


LETTER  TO  THE  NEW  YORK  AMERICAN.  345 

days  he  also  disappeared,  leaving  a  deficit  of  $200,000,  and  he  is 
now  with  his  friend  in  Paris. 

The  third  example  of  this  bribery  system  is  the  former  printer 
and  publisher  of  the  New  Orleans  Gazette,  the  notorious  drunkard 
Peter  K.  Wagner,  from  Baltimore,  appointed  by  Jackson  "  naval 
officer"  at  New  Orleans,  where  immense  sums,  the  tonnage  tax 
of  foreign  vessels,  passed  into  his  hands.  This  one  did  not  run 
away,  but  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  place,  in  consequence  of  a 
deficit  in  his  cash-box  of  $70,000. 

On  his  candi  Jate  voyage  Jackson  had  visited  several  of  the 
Western  States  j  his  own,  in  which  he  dwelt  as  cotton  planter, 
included ;  and  he  determined  to  go  to  the  cradle  of  his  renown, 
New  Orleans,  but  as  simple  citizen,  sending  there  also  his  cotton 
crop,  about  eighty  bales.  The  same  steamboat  that  brought  the 
cotton  bore  also  the  American  hero.  A  Frenchman  would  have 
called  that  steamboat  "  the  bark  that  carried  Caesar  and  his  for- 
tunes." He  was  received  with  joy  ;  a  mob  of  the  more  youthful 
niggers,  carefully  drilled  by  Sheriff  Morgan,  stood  at  the  corners 
of  the  streets,  and  cried  "  Hurrah  for  Jackson ;"  and  the  general, 
in  simple  citizen's  guise,  surrounded  by  the  electoral  committee, 
stepped  on  shore.  On  every  occasion,  he  endeavored  to  give 
proof  of  amiability  of  character,  of  esteem  for  the  laws,  etc. ; 
hiding  carefully  from  all  military  display. 

To  me,  who  during  the  defence  of  the  city,  had  had  the  general 
daily  and  immediately  under  my  eye,  and  whom  no  shade  of  his 
character  could  or  did  escape,  all  this  comedy  seemed  so  mean, 
and  at  the  same  time  so  absurd,  that  I,  who  had  little  to  do,  could 
not  withstand  the  desire  to  send  to  my  friend  Charles  King,  editor 
of  the  New  York  American,  a  droll  description  of  the  visit,  which 
showed  a  perfect  acquaintance  with  the  city.  Mr.  King  published 
it.  It  delighted  ordinary  readers,  but  Jackson's  partisans  in  New 
Orleans,  particularly  the  members  of  his  election  committee,  were 
rendered  furious.  The  publisher  of  the  American  was  written  to, 
and  the  name  of  the  author  demanded — he  refused  to  give  it.' 
For  the  first  few  weeks  no  one  thought  of  me,  who  had  so  recently 
returned  from  Europe ;  but  after  a  while  it  was  concluded  that 
nobody  but  I  could  have  written  it ;  and  Mr.  Slide.ll,  secretary  of 

15* 


346  LETTER  TO  EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 

the  committee,  was  sent  to  demand  a  formal  explanation.  The 
reader  can  guess  that  this  had  no  result,  as  I  only  expressed  won- 
der at  the  presumption,  and  expressed  it  mockingly ;  which  I 
ventured  to  do,  because  I  lived  on  the  friendliest  footing  with  Mr. 
Slidell,  and  at  one  time,  before  he  sought  to  still  his  conscience 
for  this  political  role,  had  received  him  as  a  most  intimate  friend  at 
my  house.  So  -won,  however,  as  I  observed,  that  he  was  allow- 
ing himself  to  be  used  as  the  tool  of  a  political  faction,  all  inti- 
macy, and  finally  all  intercourse,  ceased.  I  had  seen  too  many 
examples  of  the  extremities  to  which  American  party  spirit  will 
go,  not  to  keep  myself  clear  of  any  mingling  in  politics — not  to 
choose  my  companions  with  prudence.  Also,  I  felt  no  interest  in 
the  success  of  this  or  that  party ;  yet,  although  I  felt  no  particu- 
lar esteem  for  the  other  candidate,  John  Quincy  Adams,  I  would 
very  unwillingly  have  seen  him  defeated  by  the  filthy  intrigues 
of  a  most  unprincipled  man — I  mean,  of  General  Jackson.  My 
good  friend  Counsellor  Custis,  now  Chief  Justice  of  the  supreme 
court  in  New  Orleans,  was  at  the  head  of  Jackson's  opponents, 
and  was  one  of  the  most  important  members  of  the  Adams  elec- 
tion committee.  We  had  many  a  confidential  talk  about  men 
and  things,  and  mourned  over  the  part  which  a  man  of  such  unde- 
niably extraordinary  talents  as  Edward  Livingston,  was  forced  to 
play,  in  order  to  keep  himself  on  the  surface  merely  of  society. 
The  whole  combination  to  make  Jackson  president  was  his  work. 
From  this  only  could  he  expect  the  restoration  of  his  crushed 
financial  position — from  this  alone  could  he  draw  a  possibility  of 
regaining  the  esteem  of  his  countrymen.  The  consequences 
proved  that  he  had  reckoned  rightly,  so  far  at  least  as  he  was  per- 
sonally concerned  ;  but  a  pure  patriot  Jackson  was  not,  and  could 
not  be,  and  the  results  showed  that  a  far  better  man  might  have 
been  chosen.  The  parallel  between  Jackson  and  others,  who 
were  better  fitted  for  the  lofty  position  at  which  he  was  aiming, 
had  taken  such  possession  of  me,  by  reason  of  my  opportunities 
for  observation,  and  the  great  attention  I  had  given  to  it,  that  I 
determined,  as  much  for  my  own  pleasure  as  from  any  other  mo- 
tive, to  write  a  letter  to  him,  wherein  the  whole  position  of  affairs 
at  the  time  was  set  forth,  and  Jackson's  merits  and  demerits,  as 


PERSONAL  ATTACK  ON  THE  AUTHOR.  34 1 

well  as  his  own,  were  contrasted.  My  friend  Custis  and  others 
urged  me  to  print  this  letter,  and  I  did  not  refuse.  It  was  cer- 
tainly the  best  I  had  ever  written  in  English.  But  few  copies 
were  circulated  in  New  Orleans,  but  many  were  sent  to  the  elec- 
tion committees  in  the  north.  From  the  printers  the  name  of  the 
author  was  discovered,  and  I  need  not  say  that  what  I  had  written 
purely  for  my  own  amusement  procured  for  me  many  enemies, 
and  the  deadly  hate  of  most  of  Jackson's  followers.  In  New 
Orleans  I  was  a  fallen,  but  not  dishonored  man.  People  won- 
dered that  I  did  not  follow  the  American  custom  of  comforting 
myself  in  the  bar-rooms,  and  seeking  for  consolation  in  brandy, 
but  that  I  still  attended  to  business,  and  still  held  my  head  high. 
Most  of  them  could  not  understand  why  the  loss  of  my  lofty  mer- 
cantile position  did  not  induce  me  to  descend  the  social  ladder 
also,  and  that  my  self-respect  was  not  in  the  slightest  degree  les- 
sened. I  was  blameless.  This  steeled  me  during  that  last  mourn- 
ful year  in  New  Orleans,  while  I  was  bringing  about  the  liquidation 
there.  The  year  was  one  of  the  most  painful  in  my  life.  Of  my 
two  most  intimate  friends,  one,  William  Hill,  of  the  Denistoun 
firm,  had  died  of  yellow  fever ;  the  other,  William  B.  Milligan, 
had  lost  by  a  frightful  accident  his  newly  married  wife,  and 
remained  at  the  North. 

Early  the  next  year,  1829,  my  long-desired  return  to  Europe 
was  rendered  possible ;  I  could  embark  for  Havre — but  not  until 
one  more  trial  had  been  passed  through.  The  partisans  of  Jack- 
son could  not  let  me  go  without  first  revenging  themselves  upon 
me.  One  of  the  most  ferocious,  F.  B.  Ogden,  to  whom  Jackson 
had  promised,  for  his  election  services,  the  Liverpool  consulate, 
had  determined  to  attack  me  in  my  own  house.  He  had  brought 
a  witness  with  him,  in  order  to  lay  his  misdeed  before  the  public. 
The  twain  entered  my  room  lightly,  while  I  was  seated  at  my 
dinner  with  my  back  to  the  door ;  but  so  soon  as  I  caught  a 
glimpse  of  them,  I  made  one  spring  behind  my  writing-desk,  on 
which  lay  two  loaded  pistols,  which  I  seized.  It  was  comical  to 
beholl  how  the  two  good-for-nothings  retired,  cursing  in  disappoint- 
ment    The  whole  city  was  informed  of  the  affair  by  a  placard 


348  DEPARTURE  FOR  HAVRE. 

that  same  evening,  and  the  larger  portion  of  the  citizens,  to  theii 
honor  be  it  said,  were  exceedingly  incensed. 

Day  and  hour  were  appointed  for  my  departure.  All  my 
former  clerks  and  several  friends  had  assembled  to  accompany  me 
on  board  ;  for  the  news  had  gone  through  the  city,  that  the  Jack- 
sonians  would  make  one  more  attack  before  my  embarkation.  I 
rescinded  my  resolution  to  go  on  board  either  early  in  the  morn- 
ing or  late  at  night ;  and  chose  to  go  through  the  high  street,  by 
the  clear  sunshine  of  3  o'clock  p.  m.  The  Levee  was  thronged 
with  a  cheering  crowd  as  I  went  on  board  and  the  vessel  moved 
out  to  sea. 

Thus,  then,  two-and-twenty  years  after  my  first  visit,  and  six- 
teen since  the  establishment  of  my  firm,  I  bade  farewell  to  the 
city  wherein  I  had  hoped  to  gain  the  reward  of  so  many  struggles, 
peace  and  independence  for  my  old  age.  But,  tossed  by  a  hurri- 
cane— for  the  crisis  which  I  have  described  was  more  than  an 
ordinary  storm — I  had  nothing  now  left  but  my  full  physical  and 
mental  strength ;  health  and  elasticity  of  spirits  that  promised  me 
happier  days  in  the  future. 

Mr.  Alexander  Baring  had  cared  for  my  immediate  support  in 
Paris,  whither  I  went  from  Havre,  by  a  more  than  sufficient  re- 
mittance. I  saw  myself  in  a  new  sphere,  where  I  could  hope  from 
my  ability  and  services  for  a  connection  with  some  already  estab- 
lished house.  But  the  only  two  chances  for  this  in  Havre 
remained  unattainable  by  me.  Both  of  these  were  houses  of 
some  years'  standing,  which  had  risen  gradually  to  a  certain  emi- 
nence, and  had  attained  influential  positions.  They  both  seemed 
inclined  to  accept  my  proposals,  made  to  them  through  a  business 
friend ;  but,  after  some  days'  consideration,  they  declined  them. 
That  they  were  frightened  by  the  knowledge  of  the  readiness  with 
which  I  undertook  and  carried  out  the  most  extensive  schemes, 
and  that  I  might  compromise  the  safety  of  their  young  establish- 
ments, I  could  not  conceal  from  myself.  Neither  could  I  consider 
them  quite  in  the  wrong.  My  business  tendencies  were  for  large 
speculations,  and  could  be  none  other,  if  the  rare  and  extraordi- 
nary sphere  in  which  I  had  commenced  be  regarded.  I  had  been 
early  intrusted  with  the  management  of  very  large  sums,  and  had 


HAVRE.  349 

been  accustomed  to  form,  carry  forward,  and  conclude  great  com- 
binations. To  descend  from  this  to  the  elementary  rules  of  our 
mercantile  fathers,  to  accumulate  and  keep  together  small  gains, 
and  to  form  this  habit,  was  almost  impossible  for  me.  Not  that 
the  progress  was  too  slow,  but  that  small  gains  closed  the  door 
upon  all  great  combinations  ;  not  that  I  wanted  "  to  make  a  for- 
tune as  one  gains  a  battle,"*  but  because  the  pygmy  advance  of 
a  daily  small  trade  furnished  no  employment  for  my  spirit  of 
business.  Great  affairs  exercised  a  magic  power  over  me,  and 
therein  lay  their  charms  for  me,  even  while  their  object,  the 
material  gain,  was  greatly  less  interesting  to  me.  Such  an  organ- 
ization is  not  good  for  a  merchant,  but,  on  the  contrary,  is  likely 
to  produce  sad  results,  as  my  own  experience  has  taught  me. 
Mercantile  necessity  is  usually  opposed  to  most  intellectual  designs. 
It  yields  no  part,  but  requires  a  man's  whole  moral  strength, 
and  monopolizes  it  for  the  use  of  its  great  object,  which  is  gain, 
gain  of  all  kinds,  gain  at  every  hour.  Gain  is  the  soul  of  the 
mercantile  strife,  the  goal  of  its  desires.  In  fixed,  unremitting 
attention  to  his  means  consists  the  first  and  greatest  virtue  of  the 
merchant — all  others  take  rank  after  this.  That  such  an  absorp- 
tion of  all  the  energies  usually  leaves  the  head  empty  and  dry, 
and  prevents  any  play  of  the  imagination,  is  easily  conceivable  , 
and  for  this  reason  I  could  not  but  despise  the  tricks  of  the  trade, 
and  be  unwilling  to  confine  myself  to  those  close  calculations 
which  a  merchant  dares  not  neglect,  if  he  remain  true  to  his  prin- 
ciple, and  wishes  to  ensure  and  keep  fast  the  results. 

1  could  not  easily  remove  the  obstacles  which  kept  me  out  of 
the  above-mentioned  Havre  establishments.  I  foresaw  this,  and 
so  stood  up  upon  my  watch-towers,  and  looked  towards  the  east. 
Accident  was  against  me.  The  Irish  banking-house  of  Daly  & 
Co.,  in  Paris,  wherein  nearly  all  the  Irish  Catholics  in  that  city 
had  credit,  and  in  many  instances  their  whole  capital  invested, 
possessed  a  generally  good  reputation.  They  had  a  good  deal  of 
interest  in  French  colonial  sugars,  through  Maillet,  Cage  &  Co.,  a 
house  established  in  Havre,  but  originally  of  Martinique.    As  the 

*  Napoleon's  words  at  Antwerp,  when,  with  Maria  Louise,  he  received  the 
deputation  o?  merchants  there. 


350  A  NEW  PARTNERSHIP. 

most  of  this  sugar  was  subject  to  great  variability  in  Havre,  and 
to  a  very  slight  one  in  Marseilles,  the  house  of  Daly  &  Co. 
resolved  to  establish  a  partner  in  Marseilles,  to  look  after  Marti- 
nique cargoes.  It  came  to  my  ears  that  they  were  looking  for  a 
good  man  of  business.  Daly,  who  was  very  much  beloved  by 
the  Irish  and  by  the  principal  legitimist  nobles  residing  in  Paris, 
was  treasurer  of  the  Union  Club,  to  which  most  of  the  notable 
aristocrats,  as  well  as  the  financial  great  folks,  Rothschild,  Hottin- 
guer,  Mallet,  and  others,  belonged.  Mr.  Francis  Baring  was  a 
visitor  at  this  club,  and  did  me  the  honor  to  introduce  me  to  Mr. 
Daly.  I  expected  to  see  a  man  of  business — he  was  nothing  of  the 
kind — but  I  withheld  my  scruples  because  of  his  popularity.  I 
pleased  him.  Mr.  Cage  was  called  from  Havre  to  Paris  ;  and  after 
many  discussions,  it  was  determined  to  found  a  branch  at  Havre, 
under  the  name  of  Nolte,  Kenney  &  Co.,  with  a  nominal  capital  of 
500,000  francs,  of  which  Daly  was  to  furnish  for  himself  and  Mr. 
Kenney  150,000,  besides  100,000  for  another  friend;  Maillet, 
Cage  &  Co.,  125,000,  and  the  remaining  125,000  by  me,  who  had 
a  prospect  of  getting  it  chiefly  by  the  aid  of  Messrs.  Barings.  Mr. 
Kenney  was  a  protege  of  Mr.  Daly's,  employed  in  the  counting- 
room,  and  not  yet  of  age.  For  this  reason  he  could  not  be 
intrusted  with  the  firm.  Messrs.  Baring  came  voluntarily  to  my 
help ;  and  I  got  20,000  francs  also  from  Mr.  Jerome  Sillem. 
Thus  then  the  house  was  established.  Circulars  were  printed,  and 
I  ran  over  to  England,  to  see  Mr.  Alexander  Baring  and  my 
other  friends  in  London  and  Liverpool.  I  was  heartily  received 
everywhere.  Then  I  spent  five  days  in  Hamburg.  Thence, 
through  Holland,  I  returned  to  England,  with  a  view  to  go  by 
Southampton  and  Havre  back  to  Paris.  The  steamer  was  to 
sail  from  Southampton  at  8  P.  M.  on  the  24th,  and  in  the  fore- 
noon I  started  in  one  of  the  best  post-coaches  for  Southampton. 
We  had  made  about  twenty  miles,  when  a  new  axletree  took  fire 
from  the  rapid  friction.  This  produced  a  delay  of  two  hours  and 
a  half,  and  we  did  not  arrive  until  10  P.  M.  The  steamer  had 
been  gone  for  two  hours,  and  there  would  be  none  other  until 
Monday,  26th,  at  8  o'clock.  It  was  a  beautiful  clear  night ;  the 
wind  light  and  fair.     In  company  with  another  passenger,  I  deter- 


ARRIVAL  IN  PARIS.  351 

mined  to  cross  in  an  open  boat,  whose  master  promised,  for  £10, 
to  land  us  in  Havre  by  Sunday  morning.  The  matter  appeared 
so  certain,  that,  without  thinking  even  of  provision,  we  started  at 
11  o'clock.  We  had  only  made  about  four  leagues  when  it  fell 
calm,  and  we  lay  still  in  the  middle  of  the  channel  until  6  P.  M. 
on  Sunday.  Our  impatience  can  be  better  understood  when  it  is 
remembered  that  we  had  nothing  to  eat.  A  few  small  potatoes 
and  a  bit  of  ship-biscuit,  which  the  crew  shared  with  us,  was  all 
we  could  get.  At  last  we  saw  floating  near  us  the  still  bleeding 
head  of  a  codfish,  which  a  shark  may  just  have  bitten  off,  and  we 
were  fortunate  enough  to  get  hold  of  it.  Never  to  me  or  to  my 
companion  had  fish  tasted  so  deliciously.  The  light  wind  that 
arose  at  sunset  blew  fair  all  night,  and  carried  us  into  Havre  on 
the  morning  of  the  26th,  where  the  notorious  ordinances  of  that 
date  had  not  yet  been  learned.  I  got  a  post-chaise  and  started 
instantly  for  Paris.  At  Rouen  there  were  symptoms  of  disquie 
tude.  The  regiment  of  guards  there  had  been  got  into  marching 
order,  but  the  reason  and  the  object  were  unknown.  After  a  late 
dinner,  I  started,  and  rode  all  night.  I  was  very  anxious, 
although  without  knowing  why.  As,  early  in  the  morning,  we 
drove  from  the  post  station  at  Courbevoie  into  the  main  street, 
we  saw  a  whole  regiment  drawn  up  before  the  barracks  of  the 
royal  body-guard.  The  postmaster  at  Courbevoie  told  me  first 
of  the  ordinances,  and  intimated  that  a  revolution  was  expected 
in  Paris.  On  the  great  avenue  of  the  Champs  Elysee  near  the 
Arch  of  Triumph,  a  crowd  surrounded  my  vehicle,  tore  out  the 
white  cockade  from  the  postilion's  head,  and  dismissed  him  with 

"  Vas  ie  /aire  f ."     To  the  question  of  some  officers  at  the 

barriere,  as  to  where  I  was  going,  I  answered,  "  To  my  house, 
Rue  Chantereine,  by  Rue  Royale  and  the  Boulevards."  I  was  told 
that  I  could  not  go  that  way,  for  that  the  Tuileries  was  sur- 
rounded, and  the  Rue  Royale  and  Boulevards  filled  with  the  royal 
troops.  I  turned,  therefore,  to  the  left,  and  by  Rue  de  la  Pepin- 
iere  and  St.  Lazare  reached  home.  Before  every  house  in  the 
Rue  de  la  Pepiniere,  particularly  before  the  great  hotels  and  fac- 
tories, were  crowds  of  citizens  and  laborers,  who  seemed  to  be 
waiting  for  the  result  of  all  this.    The  guard  barracks  were  closed. 


352  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  JULY. 

and  a  strong  guard  set  over  the  doors.  Scarce  had  I  reached 
home,  when  a  pair  of  friends,  who  were  waiting  my  return,  came 
in,  and  informed  me  of  Polignac's  ordinances,  of  the  first  insurrec- 
tion of  the  people,  of  the  barricades,  and  of  the  probable  strife 
about  to  break  out  in  the  streets  of  Paris.  In  about  two  hours  it 
did  break  out.  I  soon  learned  that  early  in  the  morning  General 
Lafayette  had  come  to  the  city,  from  his  country-seat,  Lagrange. 
I  hastened  to  the  Boulevards  des  Italiens  ;  circulation  was  already 
partially  stopped ;  barricades  everywhere  begun,  but  an  earnest 
opposition  not  yet  visible.  Detachments  of  the  royal  guards  rode 
about.  After  a  two  hours'  walk  I  went  home.  In  the  evening 
and  through  the  night  an  occasional  distant  platoon  fire  reached 
my  ears.  On  the  morning  of  July  29,  I  learned  that  the  people 
had  attacked  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  after  seven  repulses,  and 
fighting  all  night,  had  succeeded  in  taking  it.  Again  I  sought  the 
Boulevards.  Before  I  reached  the  Rue  d'  Artois,  now  called 
Lafitte,  I  met  a  crowd  of  officers  streaming  into  the  residence  of 
Lafitte.  The  whole  court  was  filled,  and  matters  began  to  be 
comprehensible.  The  Bourbons  had  had  the  folly  to  garrison 
Paris  with  the  regiments  composed  of  natives  of  the  city,  enfans 
de  Paris  ;  two  of  the  colonels  were  Lafitte's  countrymen,  from 
Bayonne.  He  had  written  to  them,  and  as  soon  as  they  found 
that  their  regiments  would  on  no  account  fire  upon  their  brothers, 
they  had  gone  to  Lafitte's,  and  swore  allegiance  to  the  provisional 
government.  When  I  reached  the  end  of  the  Rue  d'Artois,  near 
the  Cafe  Hardy,  now  the  Maison  Doree,  I  saw  some  detachments 
of  the  Swiss  guards  marching  up  the  Rue  Grammont,  and  an 
occasional  shot  was  fired  on  the  Boulevards.  The  trees  on  both 
sides  of  the  Boulevards  were  felled.  The  first  important  barri- 
cade that  I  saw  was  in  the  Rue  Grange  Bateluze,  from  whence  it 
extended  across  the  Boulevards  to  the  Rue  Richelieu.  I  went  on, 
and  with  some  trouble  reached  the  Porte  St.  Martin,  but  went  no 
further  :  indeed,  progress  was  impossible,  because  of  the  number- 
less barricades  and  the  masses  of  people.  Single  royal  artillery- 
men riding  along  the  Boulevards  were  followed  with  shots  from 
the  windows  and  cellars.  I  saw  several  officers  fall  dead  from 
theiv  horses.     During  my  walk,  which  had  no  other  object  tha> 


FENNIMORE  COOPER.  353 

the  satisfaction  of  my  curiosity,  a  barricade  was  thrown  up  at  the 
corner  of  the  Rue  d'Artois,  where  Lafitte  lived,  as  if  by  magic, 
and  I  had  to  clamber  over  it  to  get  home. 

I  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  say  any  more  about  the  "three  da\s 
of  July,"  except  that  the  behavior  of  the  people,  principally  ouv 
riers,  in  their  fighting  with  the  royal  guards,  amazed  me.  It  is 
well  known  that  when  the  Tuileries  was  stormed,  a  casket  con- 
taining 2000  pieces  of  gold  was  found  by  a  day-laborer  in  the 
rooms  of  the  Duchesse  de  Berry,  and  was  given  up  to  the  govern- 
ment. But  what  must  have  been  seen  to  be  believed,  was  the 
quiet  and  order  with  which  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  ouvriers,  in 
single  processions,  betook  themselves  from  the  field  of  conflict 
back  to  their  work,  as  if  nothing  out  of  the  way  had  occurred. 
Repose  was  soon  restored  to  all  Paris,  not  slowly  but  all  of  a 
sudden ;  and  but  for  the  felled  trees  upon  the  Boulevards,  and 
the  barricades  still  standing  in  every  quarter,  particularly  in  the 
quartiers  St.  Denis  and  St.  Martin,  there  would  scarcely  a  trace 
have  been  recognized  of  a  revolution  which  had  dethroned  a 
king  and  set  another  ruler  in  his  place. 

So  soon  as  I  learned  of  General  Lafayette's  arrival  in  Paris,  I 
proposed  to  Commodore  Nicholson  and  other  American  friends, 
to  form  a  body-guard  for  the  old  general,  and  to  accompany  him 
everywhere.  The  idea  pleased  him.  An  assemblage  of  Ameri- 
can citizens  convened  at  the  Restaurant  Lointier ;  and  here  the 
well-known  Fenimore  Cooper  opposed  my  idea,  and  suggested  in 
the  place  of  it  a  dinner.  This  trivial  notion  had  no  object  but  to 
place  Mr.  Cooper  at  the  head  of  the  affair,  and  to  give  him  an 
opportunity  of  making  a  speech,  which  would  be  printed  in  Galig- 
nani's  Messenger,  and  show  to  the  American  people  his  participa- 
tion in  the  revolution  of  July.  However,  his  proposal  was 
accepted,  and  the  general  was  obliged  to  content  himself  with  this 
honor.  So  began  and  ended  my  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Cooper, 
who,  in  his  whole  demeanor,  in  his  speech,  and  his  demand  for 
public  esteem,  possessed  none  of  the  amiable  modesty  of  Wash- 
ington Irving,  and  never  could  conceal  his  pretentious  claims. 

One  more  reminiscence  of  those  days.  It  is  of  the  Prince  Tal- 
leyrand, and  is  not,  I  btlieve,  generally  known.    After  the  altera- 


354  ANOTHER  FAILURE. 

tion  of  the  Charte,  he  sought  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  to  swear 
to  the  new  constitution.  As  he  got  out  of  his  carriage  he  caught 
the  eye  of  a  friend,  who  asked  him  confidentially  the  object  of  his 
visit.  Talleyrand  replied,  to  swear  to  the  new  constitution. 
"  But,  Monseigneur,"  said  the  friend,  "  you  have  done  the  same 
thing  to  fourteen  others."  "  My  friend,"  said  Talleyrand,  "  let 
us  hope  that  this  will  be  the  last."  The  prince  knew  the  value 
of  an  oath  in  his  country,  and  the  history  of  our  days,  since  the 
revolution  of  February,  1848,  has  proved  the  perfect  correctness 
of  his  judgment. 

The  news  that  two  vessels  laden  with  sugar  were  on  their  way 
from  Martinique  to  Marseilles,  made  a  journey  thither  necessary. 
When  I  went  to  the  Messrs.  Daly  for  their  quota  of  the  capital 
for  the  new  house  in  Marseilles,  I  could  only  get  a  quarter  of  it, 
but  was  told  that  I  might  draw  on  them  from  that  city  for  the 
rest.  This  did  not  please  me,  but  the  "possibility  of  their  being 
embarrassed  did  not  enter  my  head.  They  enjoyed  universal 
esteem,  and,  as  far  as  could  be  judged,  a  well-deserved  credit. 
Thereupon  I  went  to  Marseilles,  made  my  domestic  arrangements, 
and  received  both  cargoes  of  sugar.  The  market  was  empty,  and 
a  sale,  with  good  profit,  consequently  easy.  The  profit  was 
scarcely  in  my  hands  when  drafts  for  their  share  came  from 
Messrs.  Daly  &  Co.,  with  the  request  to  send  them  back  accepted. 
I  did  so,  although  I  began  to  distrust,  and  proposed  to  ask  at  the 
banking  house  of  Luke  Callaghan,  in  Paris,  and  only  to  send  my 
letter  if  I  found  the  credit  of  the  Daly's  unshaken.  A  few  days 
after  I  heard  that  they  had  suspended  payment,  and  that  Maillet, 
Cage  &  Co.  had  followed  their  example.  The  object  of  the  Mar- 
seilles firm  and  the  prospect  of  a  regular  and  productive  business 
vanished.  An  immediate  prospect  of  support  for  a  costly  trade, 
with  this  lessened  capital,  and  the  difficulties  resulting  from  the 
July  revolution,  was  of  course  out  of  the  question.  It  was  my 
duty  to  look  out  for  my  future,  and,  to  do  so,  I  must  return  to 
Paris. 

On  my  ai  rival  I  was  told  a  bit  of  city  news,  that  the  house  of 
J.  Lafitte  &  Co.  was  in  the  greatest  embarrassment.  They,  as 
well  as  Daly  &  Co.,  had  been  shaken  by  the  same  causes.     Both 


LAFITTE  &  CO.  355 

had  committed  the  same  fault,  with  the  difference,  that  Lafitte 
had  a  large  capital  of  his  own,  while  Daly's  book  showed  how 
very  poor  and  unreliable  was  the  basis  of  his  business.  The  an- 
cient and  close  connection  between  Lafitte  and  Coutts  &  Co.,  of 
London,  who  were  intrusted  with  the  wealth  of  the  highest  and 
richest  nobles  in  England,  had  brought  into  their  hands  an  im- 
mense capital,  belonging  to  English  travellers  in  France  and  Italy. 
Many  of  these  travellers  had  settled  in  those  countries,  leaving 
their  money  in  Lafitte's  hands.  It  was  the  common  calculation, 
that  50,000  Englishmen  were  living  in  France ;  and  that  if  each 
were  to  spend  but  ten  francs  a  day,  15,000,000  francs  a  month, 
and  180,000,000  a  year  of  English  gold  would  be  spent  in  France. 
It  is  evident,  that  if  one-third  of  these  people,  or  even  fewer,  were 
to  leave  their  funds  in  Lafitte's  hands,  it  would  make  up  a  capital 
far  beyond  the  need  of  his  banking  business,  and  so  his  own  capi 
tal  might  be  untouched.  But,  in  order  to  make  it  lucrative,  La- 
fitte had  loaned  it  on  mortgages  of  every  sort,  had  invested  it  in 
factories,  had  bought  real  estate,  forests,  etc.,  so  that  it  was  no 
longer  of  use  in  his  business,  but  the  foreign  capital  served  for  his 
operations.  The  July  revolution  alarmed  most  of  the  English  in 
France  ;  they  departed,  and  drew  their  money  from  the  banker. 
This  emigration  became  stronger  every  day,  and  emptied  the 
portfolios  and  the  chests  of  the  house.  For  the  first  time,  the 
credit  of  this  mightiest  French  banking-house  was  shaken,  and 
their  embarrassment  was  notorious.  Then  the  new  king,  Louis 
Philippe,  came  to  the  help  of  his  friend  Lafitte,  who  had  greatly 
contributed  to  his  elevation,  and  bought  of  him  the  part  of  the 
forest  of  St.  Germain  which  he  owned,  for  the  sum  of  9,000,000 
francs.  Even  this  help,  however,  was  not  needed,  and  the  storm 
blew  over. 

What  Lafitte  had  felt  so  heavily  Daly  also  in  his  measure  suf- 
fered. The  original  capital  of  this  firm  was  scarcely  worth 
naming,  but  the  money  of  the  Irish  Catholics,  and  the  capital  left 
in  Daly's  hands,  by  the  just  fallen  London  house  of  Wright  &  Co., 
was  important;  Daly  himself,  a  former  paymaster  in  the  army,  was 
a  nullity.  His  only  business-man,  the  bookkeeper,  was  a  Creole, 
from  Martinique.     By  him  he  was  connected  with  Maillet,  Cage 


356  MARSEILLES  BUSINESS  CLOSED  UP. 

&  Co.,  moie  closely  than  anybody  knew.  But  it  was  decided,  in 
the  end,  by  a  lawsuit,  that  Maillet,  Cage  &  Co.  were  recognized 
as  partners  in  Daly's  house,  and  that  their  creditors  might  come 
upon  the  effects  of  Daly,  and  so  get  more  than  they  expected, 
when  they  expected  only  to  be  paid  from  the  effects  of  the  Mar 
tinique  firm.  » 

Precisely  on  my  return  to  Paris,  there  took  place  a  meeting  ol 
Daly's  creditors,  to  which  I  was  invited.  Most  of  them  were 
utterly  ignorant  of  business — they  were  gentlemen.  It  was  of 
the  utmost  importance  to  understand  the  relationship  between 
Daly  and  Maillet,  Cage  &  Co.  Daly  himself  had  vanished,  and 
his  remaining  partner,  Plowden,  not  in  condition,  or  not  inclined 
to  throw  any  light  upon  the  subject.  On  motion  of  Mr.  Luke  Cal- 
laghan,  who  possessed  the  confidence  of  all  the  Irish  creditors, 
I  was  invited  to  go-  to  Havre,  and  examine  into  the  whole  affair. 
Here  I  soon  discovered,  what  I  had  already  surmised,  that  as 
Daly  had  used  the  capital  of  his  friends  in  his  transactions  with 
Maillet,  Cage  &  Co.,  so  had  these  latter  used  the  money  that  they 
procured  so  easily  for  their  house  in  Martinique  ;  that  they  had 
given  enormous  acceptances  ;  and  that,  as  guaranty  for  all  this, 
they  had  only  the  prospective  sugar  crop,  upon  which  they  had 
made  great  advances.  M.  Cage  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  in- 
form me  of  their  partnership  with  Daly.  Deceived  in  like  mea- 
sure by  Daly  and  the  Havre  house,  and  in  no  way  bound  by  their 
relation  with  each  other,  I  resolved  to  take  no  further  steps  in  the 
matter.  The  basis  of  my  establishment  in  Marseilles  was  shaken. 
The  promised  credit  with  Daly's  house  was  rendered  impractica- 
ble by  his  failure,  and  the  originally  contemplated  capital  had 
never  been  made  up.  All  these  circumstances  compelled  me 
quietly  to  close  the  just  opened  establishment  in  Marseil]es,  to 
return  to  Paris,  and  to  look  about  me  for  something  else  to  do. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  SUPPLYING  OF  ARMS. 

Visit  to  General  Lafayette,  who  had  been  appointed  comniander-in-chief  of  all 
the  National  Guard  of  the  realm — The  arming  of  that  force — A  couple  of 
lines  from  the  General  procures  me  admission  to  General  Gerard,  the  Min- 
ister of  War — First  contract  for  50,000  old  French  muskets  from  the  Prus- 
sian fortresses — Appointment  of  Marshal  Soult  as  minister  of.  war — The 
rival  authority  of  Lafayette,  as  head  of  the  National  Guard,  is  in  the  way 
of  M.  Casimir  Perier,  the  new  president  of  Louis  Philippe's  Council — The 
general  commandancy  of  the  National  Guard  is  abolished  by  a  vote  of  the 
Chambers — Lafayette  drops  the  honorary  title,  and  altogether  retires — The 
extension  of  my  contract  for  arms  with  the  war  ministry — Daly's  bequest — 
I  make  the  acquaintance  of  two  blacklegs  and  cheats,  G.  and  O. — 5000  stand 
of  the  arms  purchased  at  Hamburgh  arrive  in  Havre,  and  are  rejected  at 
the  arsenal,  as  unfit  for  use — The  same  fate  befals  5000  more  at  Strasbourg 
— I  succeed,  however,  in  extricating  myself  from  the  bad  bargain,  not  only 
without  loss,  but  even  with  advantage — Delivery  of  sabres  for  the  army — 
Colonel  Lefrancois,  director  of  the  arsenal  at  Havre — Contrast  between 
him  and  another  officer  of  rank — Remarks  upon  the  contractor  business  in 
general. 

The  provision  of  arms  for  the  National  Guard,  at  the  desire  of 
Louis  Philippe's  minister  of  war,  General  Gerard,  gave  me  the 
first  opportunity  here  of  exhibiting  my  cleverness,  Math  profit  to 
myself.  I  knew  of  the  friendship  between  the  generals  Lafayette 
and  Gerard.  Lafayette,  who  had  been  named  commandant  gene- 
ral of  all  the  National  Guard  in  the  department  of  the  Seine,  soon 
received  the  command  of  the  whole  National  Guard  throughout 
France.  He  had  his  head-quarters  in  the  former  palace  of  Count 
Perigaux,  in  the  Rue  de  la  Chausse  d'Antin.  Here  he  received 
numberless  deputations  from  every  portion  of  the  kingdom. 
From  morning  till  evening  the  house  was  besieged  by  National 
Guards,  and  on  appointed  reception  days  it  was  impossible  to  see 


358  GENERAL  LAFAYETTE. 

the  general  without  obtaining  a  written  ticket  of  admission.  I  did 
not  know  this  when  I  presented  myself  in  the  crowded  rooms. 
There  I  saw  the  aides-de-camp  excessively  busy  in  going  hither 
and  thither,  introducing  people,  among  whom  were  several  ladies, 
to  the  general.  I  went  to  the  first  who  came  near  me,  and  learned 
that  a  ticket  was  necessary.  There  was  no  time  to  lose ;  so  1 
gave  the  aide-de-camp  my  card,  with  a  request  that  he  would 
show  it  to  the  general,  and  tell  him  that  1  was  waiting  for  him  in 
the  reception  chamber.  In  a  moment  he  returned,  with  a  poftfce 
request  from  the  general  that  I  would  wait  for  a  few  moments  ; 
there  were  some  ladies  with  him  at  the  moment,  of  whom  he 
would  rid  himself  as  soon  as  possible,  and  then  I  should  be  at  once 
introduced.  In  a  moment  the  aide-de-camp  came  to  tell  me  that 
the  general  was  ready,  and  to  open  for  me  the  door  of  his  private 
room.  The  moment  he  saw  me  he  rose,  came  towards  me  with 
open  arms,  embraced  me  very  kindly,  and  instructed  the  adjutant, 
who  took  me  for  an  Englishman,  to  let  no  one  in  until  he  should 
ring. 

Alone  with  the  general,  I  wished  him  joy  of  the  altered  state  of 
affairs  in  his  country,  of  the  apparently  general  recognition  of 
those  principles  to  which  he  was  devoted,  of  the  post  which  he 
now  held  as  guardian  of  the  public  peace,  and  of  the  new  step 
taken  by  his  nation  towards  freedom.  He  took  it  all  as  I  intended 
it,  and  thanked  me  by  a  hearty  pressure  of  the  hand.  Yet  it  did 
not  escape  me  that  he  was  'ar  from  being  satisfied,  and  my  idea 
that  the  course  of  affairs  did  not  please,  became  certainty,  as  he 
said,  "  We  have  not  yet  gone  so  far  as  the  Americans,  but  the  day 
will  perhaps  come."  What  he  wanted  was  to  imitate  Washing- 
ton in  France.  As  commandant-general  of  all  the  National 
Guards  he  was  next  in  dignity  to  the  king,  but  in  the  public 
opinion  he  was  higher ;  for  the  Bourbons  had  never  been  loved, 
and  the  Duke  of  Orleans  was  placed  upon  the  throne,  not  because 
he  was  a  Bourbon,  but  in  spite  of  it.  Lafayette's  friend,  Lafitte, 
when  premier,  found  this  improper,  and  his  successor,  M.  Cassi- 
mir  Perier,  still  more  so.  It  is  well  known  how  the  powerful 
will  and  inflexible  character  of  this  gentleman  governed  even 
Louis  Philippe  himself.     On  the   20th  February  Perier     sue- 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  MINISTER  OF  WAR.  359 

ceeded  his  friend  Lafitte,  and  one  month  afterwards  he  got  passed 
through  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  an  act  to  destroy  the  office  of 
Commandant-General  of  the  National  Guards,  as  being  useless, 
since  the  restoration  of  public  tranquillity.  The  honorary  title 
was  offered  to  Lafayette,  but  he  refused  this  gilding  of  a  bitter 
pill.  So  soon  as  he  heard  of  it  on  December  24,  he  resigned  all 
his  commands,  even  that  of  the  department  of  the  Seine,  and  stated 
as  reason  for  refusing  the  title,  that  simply  honorary  titles  were 
unrepublican.  The  whole  affair  wounded  him  deeply.  He  saw, 
however  painful  it  might  be,  that  once  withdrawn  from  the 
eyes  of  the  people  and  the  National  Guard,  he  must  take  leave 
of  that  popularity  so  dear  to  him,  and  descend  to  a  lower  position 
in  the  world.  This  I  particularly  saw  in  his  features,  at  the  great 
ball  given  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor,  in  the  opera  house,  on  the 
8th  of  January,  1831.  Although  the  whole  royal  family  was  pre- 
sent, he  came  in,  clad  as  a  simple  citizen,  leaning  upon  the  arm  of 
his  friend  Odillon  Barrot,  noticing  nothing,  and  not  even  glancing 
at  the  balcony,  where  the  king  sate,  surrounded  by  his  family  and 
ministers.     His  face  had  lost  its  natural,  happy  expression. 

As  our  first  interview  was  drawing  to  a  close,  an  adjutant 
entered,  and  informed  him  that  General  Pernetti  and  the  artillery 
officers  of  the  National  Guard  were  assembled  in  the  ante-room, 
and  desired  to  wait  on  him.  I  rose  to  leave,  but  the  general  took 
my  arm,  with  the  words  "You  must  go  with  me,"  and  then  asked 
what  he  could  do  for  me.  I  asked  him  for  an  introduction  to  the 
Minister  of  War,  General  Gerard.  He  said  he  would  send  it  to 
me ;  but  on  my  remark,  that  one  stroke  of  his  pen  would  suffice, 
and  that  I  feared  to  take  up  his  invaluable  time,  he  observed,  "  it 
is  true,  my  friend,  two  words  will  suffice,  and  I  will  give  them  to 
you  immediately."  He  then  sate  down,  and  wrote  an  exceed- 
ingly kind  letter,  which  contained  the  remark,  that  if  Gerard  had 
any  business  to  employ  me  in,  he  would  find  me  not  only  capable 
but  an  honest  man,  whom  he  might  trust.  This  over,  we  passed 
into  the  room  where  the  officers  were  waiting,  drawn  up  in  a  semi- 
circle, and  some  ninety  in  number.  After  a  short  speech,  Per- 
netti proposed  to 'present  each  officer  in  turn,  but  Lafayette 
declared  that  he  would  make  the  round,  and  that  General  Per 


360  GOVERNMENT  CONTRACT. 

netti  could  follow  him,  and  mention  to  what  corps  each  officer 
belonged.  He  accordingly  did  so,  shaking  hands  with  each  officer 
in  the  American  way.  When  this  was  over,  Lafayette  asked  me, 
"  What  do  you  say  to  that,  my  friend  V  I  said,  that  I  thought  it 
no  small  labor  to  shake  hands  with  ninety  men  ;  and  that,  in  his 
place,  I  should  have  deputed  one  or  more  of  my  adjutants  to 
help  me,  or  contented  myself  simply  with  making  an  address. 
"  No,  no,"  said  the  general,  "  this  matter  is  too  serious.  A  touch 
of  the  hand  is  often  more  effectual  than  a  discourse,"  He  thus 
made  use  of  an  American  custom,  which  he  had  learned  forty 
years  before,  an'd  proved  that  a  simple  shake  of  the  hand  was  worth 
all  the  flourishes  of  eloquence.  This  is  very  visible  among  the 
negro  slaves,  who  catch  hold  of  each  other's  hands,  hold  on  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  give  a  rapid  shake  occasionally,  and  burst  out 
into  great  peals  of  laughter,  without  uttering  a  syllable.  This  is 
certainly  heartiness  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word. 

My  desire  for  an  introduction  to  General  Gerard  had  its  origin 
in  the  report  of  an  intention  to  make  a  provision  of  arms  for  the 
whole  National  Guard.  I  learned  by  the  papers,  and  by  private 
advices,  that  the  Prussian  government  was  about  to  sell  at  public 
auction  a  quantity  of  old  or  unneeded  muskets,  which  had  been 
thrown  away  by  the  French,  in  the  retreat  of  1813,  and  left  upon 
the  field  ;  or  which  had  been  abandoned  in  the  various  depots,  and 
which  were  now  in  Magdeburg  and  some  of  the  Silesian  fortresses. 
I  wrote  to  the  Hamburgh  house  of  Sillem,  Brothers  &  Co.,  and 
received  assurances  of  the  contemplated  sale,  and  of  their  readi- 
ness to  purchase  on  my  account.  I  thereupon  contracted  with 
General  Gerard  for  50,000  old  muskets,  in  good  condition,  in  the 
French  form,  and  for  the  price  of  28  francs  a  piece.  In  this  con- 
tract the  government  was  bound  for  one  year ;  I,  not  at  all.  A 
couple  of  specimens  accompanied  this  contract,  of  which  I  sent 
one  to  Messrs.  Sillem,  who  at  once  busied  themselves  in  the  pur- 
chase of  a  certain  quantity  of  muskets,  at  the  price  of  12  marks  8 
schillings  to  13  marks.  I  issued  other  contracts  of  trie  same  kind 
and  on  the  same  terms,  to  certain  places  upon  the  Rhine.  The 
arms  purchased  in  Hamburgh  were  shipped  to  Havre;  those  from 
the  Rhine  were  sent  to  Strasbourg;  and  both  we^g   deposited 


A  BRACE  OF  ROGUES  «;G1 

in   the   royal  Arsenals.     The   Strasbourg  arrival  was   the  first. 
Thither  I  sent  a  man,  who  had  been  recommended  to  me  as  clever 

and  honorable,  whom  I  shall  only  mention  as  M ,  and  to 

whom  I  shall  refer  by-and-by. 

There  were  no  difficulties  about  the  liquidation,  so  soon  as  the 
closing  of  my  new  establishment  in  Marseilles  had  been  resolved 
upon.  I  had  sent  a  couple  of  cargoes  of  wine  to  New  Orleans, 
which  were  to  be  returned  in  cotton.  Had  the  capital  promised 
by  Daly  Co.  and  Maillet,  Cage  &  Co.  been  paid  in,  a  lucrative 
business  would  at  once  have  been  founded.  The  preparations, 
however,  had  been  too  extensive.  Clerks  had  been  engaged  at 
large  salaries,  some  by  me,  in  view  of  the  guarantied  important 
sugar- trade,  and  some  by  Daly— among  whom  a  Parisian  book- 
keeper at  a  salary  of  6000  francs,  whom  I  could  have  hired  in 
Paris  for  2000.  A  compromise  must  be  made  with  these  clerks, 
with  my  young  partner,  and  with  Daly's  creditors.  I  must  bring 
back  my  little  family  from  Marseilles,  give  up  my  house  there, 
throw  up  my  leases,  etc.  Besides  this  burden,  Daly  had  intro 
duced  to  me  two  men,  for  the  business  of  arming  the  French 
troops  who  were  destined  for  Algiers,  and  sent  from  Marseilles. 
As  these  men  are  both  dead,  and  are  expiating  probably  the  guilt 
of  their  influence  upon  my  fate,  in  another  world,  I  will  speak  of 

them  as  "  O "  and  "  Gldstr — ."    The  former  was  represented 

as  a  clever  and  honest  man,  perfectly  trustworthy  ;  the  other  as 
being  proper  to  "  do  all  sorts  of  dirty  work,"  something  insepara- 
ble from  supply  contracts.  The  sphere  to  which  these  men 
belonged  was  quite  unknown  to  me  ;  and  to  learn  it  by  experience 
was  impossible  for  me,  who  had  belonged  for  so  many  years  to 
the  first  mercantile  circle  of  the  capital,  haute  finance,  and  had 
therefore  never  become  acquainted  with  inferior  matters.     Such 

at  least  was  the  report  of  Daly  and  his  book-keeper,  B ..    But, 

before  it  was  too  late,  I  discovered  that  O was  no  better  than 

G ;  that  they  were  closely  bound  together,  and  prompt  for 

any  roguery,  and  long  since  agreed  to  share  the  profits  of  their 

tricks.     O was  a  native  of  Marseilles  ;  G ,  a  Polish  Jew. 

at  one  time  a  commissaire  in  the  Prussian  army,  under  the  Duke 
of    Brunswick,    ani  who  had  gone  over  to  the  French  host  after 

16 


362  THE  MUSKETS  CONDEMNED. 

the  battle  of  Jena;  and  was  the  same  person  who,  in  Napoleon's 
bulletin  from  Melodertschino,  after  the  retreat  from  Moscow,  is 
designated  as  the  man  who  had  caused  the  loss  of  20,000  horses 
in  a  few  weeks,  which  he  asserted  to  have  been  lost  in  a  single 
night.  After  this  retreat,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Prus- 
sians, was  sentenced  to  death,  but  commuted  to  perpetual  impri- 
sonment in  Spandau;  after  a  few  years,  he  escaped  to  Paris, 
where  he  finally  settled,  and  adopted  the  profession  of  money- 
lender. In  a  provision-contract  for  the  French  troops  stationed 
in  the  Morea,  under  Marshal  Maison,  which  had  been  procured 
for  these  two  scoundrels,  by  Daly,  money  was  wanting ;  which 
was  the  only  reason  for  making  me  acquainted  with  these  worth- 
loss  fellows,  in  the  belief  that  they  could  get  employment  in  the 
contract  for  the  troops  in  Algiers,  and  so  make  profit  out  of  me. 
The  ground  of  their  connection  with  Daly  was  at  first  incompre- 
hensible to  me ;  but  I  had  afterwards  reason  to  surmise  that 
Daly's  profits  existed  only  in  figures  on  the  books;  that  these  two 
men  were  de  facto  his  debtors  for  a  very  important  sum,  and  that 
he  had  hoped  that  they  would  bring  him  new  business  out  of  this 
new  organization  in  Marseilles. 

Meanwhile  the  first  provision  of  muskets  arrived  from  Ham- 
burg in  Havre,  and  were  received  on  my  account  by  Delaroche 
A.  Delessert  &  Co.  My  agent  in  Strasbourg  informed  me,  that 
,the  inspector  of  artillery  there,  after  opening  the  boxes  and  exam- 
ining the  muskets,  had  declared  that,  out  of  twenty  opened  boxes, 
scarcely  one  fit  musket  could  be  found,  and  those  few  of  irregu- 
lar model.  A  few  days  later,  I  heard  the  same  news  of  the 
1000  muskets  in  the  arsenal  at  Havre.  The  receivers  wisely 
determined  to  close  the  chests  again,  and  to  wait  for  instruc- 
tions from  me.     My  Strasbourg  agent,  M ,  who  thoroughly 

understood  the  art  of  carousing  with  the  under  officers  and  con- 
trollers, without  advancing  one  step  beyond  this,  had  convinced 
himself  that  nothing  could  be  done  with  the  arms  but  to  send 
them  back — as  they  were  not  what  I  had  ordered,  and  were 
unsaleable  in  France.  Judge  of  the  effect  upon  me,  of  the  disco- 
very that  I  had  put  a  capital  of  200,000  francs  in  useless  muskets. 
To  get  at  the. bottom  of  the  affair,  I  went  to  Havre,  where  the 


A  LITERARY  COLONEL.  353 

arsenal  was  in  charge  of  a  meritorious  and  clever  officer,  of  the 
Napoleon  school,  colonel  of  artillery,  Lefrancois.  He  was  called 
a  stern,  unamiable  man,  but  he  received  my  visit  politely,  and 
returned  it  the  nex£  day.  He  noticed  on  my  table  a  "  Keepsake," 
fresh  from  London.  He  took  it  up,  turned  over  the  leaves,  and 
by  his  remarks  upon  the  plates,  showed  me  that  he  was  not  defi- 
cient in  education  or  artistic  cleverness.  He  also  spoke  of  the 
German  language,  and  said  that  he  preferred  Schiller,  as  a  dra- 
matist, to  his  great  countrymen,  Corneille,  Eacine,  and  Voltaire ; 
to  all,  indeed,  but  Shakespeare.  He  seemed  astonished  to  find  an 
ordinary  commissary  utter  his  views  on  art  and  belles  lettres,  and 
would  have  talked  I  know  not  how  long,  if  I  had  not  recalled  him 
to  the  muskets,  with  a  revenons  a  nos  moutons.  We  agreed  next 
morning  to  go  with  the  controller  and  examine  10  cases,  contain- 
ing 500  muskets.  A  friendly  line  preceded  me  to  the  arsenal, 
requesting  the  director  to  accept  the  Keepsake  that  had  so  much 
pleased  him.  When  the  muskets  were  unpacked  before  four 
controllers,  I  saw  that  not  one  was  of  the  proper  model.  Indeed, 
seldom  were  six  or  seven  successively  like  each  other.  All  that 
was  French  about  them  was  the  barrels ;  the  stocks  were  Ger- 
man. My  Hamburgh  correspondents  knew  as  much  about  mus- 
kets as  I  did,  namely,  nothing  at  all.  And  as  I  had  trusted  that 
they  would  purchase  after  the  model  that  I  sent  them,  so  had  they 

trusted  to  an  armorer  named  R ,  whose  conscience  wras  of 

gutta-percha.  At  each  musket  came  the  question,  "How  can 
it  be  V  the  only  answer  being  "  because  of  total  disregard  to  the 
models."  Then,  for  the  first  time,  I  learned,  that  according  to  the 
rules  of  the  French  artillery  department,  every  musket  must  con- 
sist of  34  distinct  parts,  every  one  of  which  must  be  perfect  and 
conformable  to  the  model,  before  it  could  be  approved  of.  The 
nature  of  my  contract  protected  me  from  loss  for  non-fulfilment, 
but  what  was  I  to  do  with  the  muskets.  My  contract  was  for  old 
but  yet  useful  muskets  on  the  French  model,  and  it  was  frightful 
to  see  one  after  another  set  aside  by  the  controllers,  with  the 
words  ''''fusil  de  rebut"  I  asked  and  learned  the  cause  of  this 
rebut  for  every  musket.  I  then  inquired  whether  refused  muskets 
could  not  be  altered  so  as  to  conform  to  the  model,  and  when  told 


364  THE  MUSKET  SPECULATION  IMPROVES. 

yes,  asked  the  cost.  I  was  informed  that  each  would  cost  2 
francs  50.  Then  I  inquired  if  the  government  would  not  take 
them  as  they  were,  on  my  abating  so  much  from  my  contract 
price,  28  francs.  The  director  said  he  would  take  the  matter  in 
hand,  and  asked  me  to  visit  him  often,  and  listen  to  his  translation 
of  Schiller's  Wallenstein.  I  listened  and  wondered.  After  some 
days,  he  was  informed  by  the  Minister  of  War,  Marshal  Soult, 
who  had  succeeded  General  Gerard,  that  the  muskets  would  all  be 
taken  at  25  50,  and  could  be  soon  made  to  serve  for  the  arming 
of  the  National  Guard.  He  gave  me  this  information  that  I 
might  state  it  to  the  Minister.  Chief  of  Division  in  the  Artillery 
Department,  Colonel  T.  de  L ,  who  possessed  the  full  confi- 
dence of  the  marshal,  and  who  had  his  reasons  for  being  partial  to 
me,  took  the  affair  in  hand,  and  as  it  had  the  marshal's  approval, 
1  got  rid  of  the  muskets,  and  made  a  very  fair  profit.  This  whole 
procedure  showed  me  how  to  deal  with  the  others,  and  enabled 
me  to  send  those  at  Strasbourg  to  the  arsenal  at  Metz.  The  ship- 
ment of  the  muskets  from  Hamburgh  now  went  forward  regularly. 
Importation  of  arms  from  Belgium  was  still  forbidden,  but  I 
learned  that  the  ministry  was  about  to  lift  the  prohibition.  Mus- 
kets made  in  Luttich  are  perfectly  like  the  best  French ;  and  as  I 
could  buy  a  certain  quantity  for  28  francs,  while  the  war  ministry 
in  Paris  were  willing  to  pay  32,  I  ordered  100,000  muskets,  and 
doubled  the  order  so  soon  as  importation  from  Belgium  Avas  per- 
mitted. For  the  last  half  of  this  large  contract  I  succeeded  in 
putting  my  provision  of  arms  upon  a  very  sure  basis,  and  was 
enabled  to  offer  the  Luttich  manufacturers  281  0r  29  francs,  if 
they  would  take  the  risk  of  delivering  the  muskets  at  the  arsenals 
of  Lille,  Metz,  and  Charleville,  and  be  content  to  wait  for  pay- 
ment until  they  had  been  received.  Finally,  by  the  interest  I 
had  obtained  with  the  war  ministry,  I  got  a  contract  for  150,000 
sabres,  at  6  francs  50  cents.  Contracts  made  by  me  with  some 
German  manufacturers  on  the  Rhine,  and  even  in  Paris,  at  5  fr. 
50  to  5  75,  would  have  made  a  brilliant  affair  of  this,  had  not  all 
my  swords,  as  they  arrived  by  the  10,000  or  15,000,  been,  by  the 
influence  of  the  war  controller  in  the  Rue  Luxembourg,  refused, 
because  the  back  of  the  hilt  was  a  quarter  of  a  line  narrower  than 


HOW  TO  BRIBE.  365 

the  regimental  regulations.  All  my  arguments  on  the  absurdity 
of  such  strictness  were  of  no  avail,  and  as  the  controller  was  too 
strictly  watched  by  the  officers  about  him,  for  me  to  attempt  any 
other  means  of  convincing  him,  I  took  my  swords  and  went  to 
Havre.  Colonel  Lefrancois  acknowledged  the  absurdity,  and  the 
first  20,000  were  at  once  taken.  I,  of  course,  sent  no  more  to  the 
depot  at  Havre,  but  imported  all  by  the  way  of  Havre.  The 
English  Keepsake  remained  unforgotten.  The  Colonel,  who  fre- 
quently came  to  Paris,  to  visit  his  sick  wife,  became  a  constant 
visitor  at  my  house,  although  he  could  not  always  get  me  to  lis- 
ten to  his  translations  of  Schiller.  He  had  made  the  Russian 
campaign,  as  one  of  the  Imperial  Artillery  Guard ;  had  lived  a 
good  while  in  Berlin  and  Konigsberg,  where  he  had  learned  Ger- 
man, and  had  for  Napoleon  (the  first  and  only)  a  veneration  that 
was  almost  adoration ;  and,  spite  of  his  feeble  body,  and  countless 
and  still  painful  wounds,  he  would  have  outbursts  of  enthusiasm 
rare  in  any  but  hot-blooded  youth.  With  the  exception  of  this 
constantly  outbreaking  exaltation,  he  was  an  amiable  and  agree- 
able man.  It  is  well  known  that  most  of  the  chiefs  in  the  impe- 
rial army  had  not  objected  to  a  present,  in  reward  for  service 
rendered  or  to  be  rendered.  This  was  particularly  the  case  in 
supplies  of  arms.  It  cost  me  a  struggle  to  persuade  myself  that 
Colonel  Lefrancois  belonged  to  the  same  category  as  his  comrades 
of  like  rank,  because  his  assistance  to  me  had  been  not  a  matter 
of  business,  in  influencing  the  controllers,  but  a  pure  matter  of  the 
heart ;  still  I  thought  that  my  recognition  of  his  services  ought  to 
be  of  use  to  him.  The  purchase  of  150,000  swords  demanded  a 
capital  of  some  800,000  francs,  and  brought  a  profit  of  more  than 
20  per  cent.  I  put  some  bank  notes  of  1000  francs  in  an  envel- 
ope, addressed  to  him,  and  laid  it  upon  my  chimney-piece,  or 
where  he  could  see  it.  He  saw  it,  observed  its  contents,  and  put 
it  back,  saying,  "  My  dear  sir,  I  cannot  accept  that."  For  a  while 
I  took  his  reply  as  final ;  but  half  an  hour  after,  my  servant  took 
the  same  sum,  in  a  new  envelope,  to  his  old,  trusty  servant,  from 
whom  it  found  its  way  into  the  colonel's  hand.  The  end  of  it 
was,  that  two  years  later,  during  my  absence  from  Paris,  he  heard 
that  my  wife  was  in  some  embarrassment  for  money.     He  called 


366  MORALS  OF  ARMS-PROVIDING. 

upon  her,  and  said,  "  My  dear  Madame  Nolle,  I  have  received  a 
great  deal  of  money  from  vour  husband,  and  have  spent  most  of 
it  as  lightly  as  I  came  by  it.  What  is  left,  however,  I  have 
brought  back  to  you.  Be  good  enough  to  take  it.  Your  husband 
and  your  family  will  never  be  forgotten  by  me."  Eighteen  months 
afterwards,  this  worthy  gentleman  died. 

Let  me  tell  a  story  on  the  other  side,  of  a  person  high  in  place 
in  the  military  department.  He  had  not  the  slightest  objection  to 
receive  a  present,  if  delicately  offered ;  and  I  puzzled  myself  in 
vain  to  find  a  proper  means,  until  my  wife,  who  was  acquainted 
with  the  whole  matter,  suggested  a  snuff-box.  I  bought  a  tasteful 
box,  laid  a  1000  franc  note  in  it,  folded  with  the  cypher  displayed, 
and  at  the  proper  time  attracted  his  attention.  "  Ah,  that  is 
really  a  box  in  exquisite  taste,"  he  said.  "  General,"  I  replied, 
"  if  it  please  you,  accept  it  from  me  as  a  souvenir."  He  said, 
"Thank  you,"  took  the  box,  and  opened  it  immediately.  I 
waited  with  impatience,  but  not  long.  "  Aha !"  said  he  ;  "  but 
you  might  as  well  understand  that  I  am  a  great  snuffer ;  another 
pinch  would  do  no  harm,  my  dear  sir."  He  put  the  box  in  his 
pocket,  and  I,  on  reaching  home,  put  my  card  and  1000  francs  in 
a  simple  envelope,  and  sent  it  him. 

This  arms  providing  has  its  good  and  bad  sides.  The  good  is 
that  one  can,  with  proper  prudence,  be  assured  of  profit  on  them. 
The  bad  is  the  uncertainty  of  their  reception  by  the  contractors. 
They  must  be  literally  conformable  to  contract,  and  precisely  like 
the  model,  or  the  place-holders  will  take  advantage  of  their  posi- 
tion, to  refuse  them.  There  is  but  one  way  of  dealing  with  these 
men,  namely,  to  bribe  them.  Ever  since  my  childhood,  an 
epigram  has  run  in  my  head,  written  upon  an  army  contractor,  who 
had  gone  to  Carlsbad.  -  "  Stax,  by  command  of  his  doctor,  is  now 
taking  a  bath  ;  confound  him,  he's  always  taking  something." 
The  thought  of  becoming  a  contractor  was  always  unpleasant  to 
me.  For  the  idea  of  procuring  the  acceptance  of  imperfect  arms, 
simply  by  bribery,  was  repulsive  to  me,  as  to  every  honest  man  ; 
and  I  could  make  no  moral  distinction  between  the  briber  and 
the  bribed  The  morality  of  the  great  world,  however,  is  much 
easier.     Horace   Walpole's   remark,   that   every   man   had   his 


MARSHAL  SOULT.  367 

price,  is  too  often  true.  General  Jackson's  partition  of  places,  in 
case  of  his  election  for  president — what  was  that  but  bribery  ! 

My  providing  now  went  on  well — furnishing  the  old  muskets 
at  25  francs,  and  the  new  ones  at  32 — and  when  Belgian  imports 
were  permitted,  it  was  still  better.  The  provision  was  so  easily 
and  regularly  managed,  that  it  aroused  the  attention  of  the  other 
furnishers — as  for  instance,  Cassimir  Perier's  own  iron  factory, 
which  had  a  contract  for  100,000  muskets,  at  32  francs.  These 
gentlemen  did  me  the  honor,  and  Marshal  Soult  the  injustice,  to 
suppose  that  we  two  had  a  private  understanding.  But  never  did 
one  word  pass  between  the  marshal  and  myself  about  the  price, 
etc.  Our  entire  conversation  consisted  of  a  short  interrogatory, 
as  to  the  possibility  of  procuring  a  certain  quantity  of  muskets, 
and  delivering  them  in  a  certain  place,  on  an  appointed  day — as 
15,000  muskets  for  the  arsenal  at  Metz.  If  I  said  yes,  I  received 
a  regular  order.  The  marshal  knew  that  he  could  trust  me,  and 
he  showed  his  confidence  in  a  matter  that  occurred  after  the  close 
of  our  contract,  and  which  was  altogether  uncalculated  upon. 

The  whole  cost  of  the  arms  brought  into  France  by  me,  in  the 
course  of  two  or  three  years,  was  about  8,000,000  francs,  to  which 
the  capital  saved  from  the  wreck  of  the  Marseilles  house,  200,000 
francs,  would  not  suffice.  I,  however,  had  had  the  good  fortune 
to  meet  the  bankers  Andre  and  Cottier,  to  please  them,  to  obtain 
their  confidence,  and  their  support,  in  my  operations.  The 
first  venture  succeeded  so  well  that  their  confidence  was  much 
increased,  and  they  placed  very  large  sums  at  my  disposal. 
These  ventures  were  often  200,000  to  300,000  francs,  for  which 
they  had  no  other  security  than  my  word  and  Marshal  Soult's 
order.  I  remember  once  bringing  M.  Cottier  an  order  for 
500,000  francs.  He  looked  at  it,  and  cried  out  in  astonishment, 
"  My  God,  where  do  you  get  all  this  money  V  Marshal  Soult,  it 
will  be  remembered,  was  much  disliked  in  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties, a  feeling  which  could  not  be  satisfied  except  by  his  retire- 
ment from  the  ministry,  and  the  recalling  of  General  Gerard. 
My  whole  machinery,  especially  the  organized  method  of  payment 
for  the  supplies,  was  for  a  moment  upset,  and  I  could  not  get  the 
orders  as  regularly  as  before ;  whereby  I  bad  to  allow  the  weight 


368  M.  COTTIER. 

of  my  important  advances  to  fall  upon  Messrs.  Andre  and  Cot- 
tier. I  needed,  to  get  matters  straight  again,  400,000  francs.  As 
soon  as  I  laid  the  whole  matter  before  M.  Cottier,  and  showed 
the  receipts  for  arms  at  various  arsenals,  he  replied  that  the  sum 
was  at  my  disposal.  I  was  very  much  flattered  at  the  trust  dis- 
played by  this  excellent  man,  who  was  esteemed  by  the  whole 
Paris  Exchange  in  a  very  different  way  from  Fould  or  the  Roths- 
childs. Sometimes,  in  going  away,  he  would  cry  over  the  coun- 
ter, "  Don't  speak  of  it.  In  spite  of  our  reputation  for  great 
prudence,  it  might  injure  us,  if  it  were  known  that  we  had  made 
such  large  advances  to  a  man  whose  fortune  is  not  yet  made." 
Or  again,  "  The  fact  is,  all  goes  on  well,  and  to  our  satisfaction, 
when  you  are  there.  But  if  anything  should  happen  to  you, 
where  would  we  be  !  Everybody  can't  stand  in  your  shoes."  I 
trust  to  be  pardoned  for  this  exhibition  of  vanity.  Had  I  not  the 
intimate  conviction  that,  despite  many  errors  and  faults,  I  have 
never  had  cause  to  blush  for  myself,  and  that  I  have  never  be- 
trayed a  trust,  my  present  existence  would  be  a  heavy  burden  to 
me.     So  that  retrospection  still  brings  me  some  consolation. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  THE  RUE  DES  PROUVAIRES— 

My  contracts  and  deliveries  of  arms  lead  to  its  discovery — The  sub-contractor 
and  intermediary,  Darmenon — Disclosure  of  the  plot  to  the  Police  Prefect, 
Gisquet — Arrest  of  the  conspirators  in  the  Rue  des  Prouvaires,  in  the  eve- 
ning of  Feb.  2d,  by  Carlier,  the  last  Prefect  of  the  Police  under  the  Repub- 
lic— The  trial  in  the  assizes  for  the  department  of  the  Seine — My  testimony 
— Opposition  of  the  Prefect — The  decision — Ambiguous  conduct  of  the  Pre 
feet — The  disclosure  of  his  venality  leads  to  his  dismissal. 

The  traffic  in  old  worn-out  muskets,  that  had  found  their  way 
into  the  ware-rooms  and  shop-shelves  of  the  Parisian  frippery 
dealers,  rendered  it  necessary  to  get  spies,  from  the  worthless  fre- 
quenters of  such  places,  in  order  to  get  possession  of  the  arms. 
The  under  functionaries  of  the  artillery  department  had  certain 
proteges  whom  I  could  use  for  this  purpose.  In  December,  1831, 
I  was  accosted  on  the  first  staircase  of  the  artillery  dep6t,  Rue 
Luxembourg,  by  a  man,  whose  evasive  manner  and  unsteady  eye 
did  not  prepossess  me  in  his  favor,  and  who  offered  me  his  ser- 
vices in  the  purchase  of  arms.  I  merely  answered,  that  if  he 
could  point  out  the  spot  where  any  old  arms  were  to  be  found,  he 
might  tell  me  of  it.  I  would  send  some  one  to  see  them,  and  if 
they  were  good  for  anything,  we  could  soon  strike  a  bargain. 
This  took  place,  and  the  purchase  of  several  small  lots  of  muskets 
brought  me  to  frequent  speech  with  the  man,  whose  name  was 
Darmenon.  His  unsteady  manner  had  convinced  me  that  he  must 
have  done  something  which  would  not  bear  daylight.  I  inquired' 
at  the  police,  and  learned  that  he  was  an  ex-galley  slave,  who,  for 
the  last  four  years  since  the  expiration  of  his  term,  had  been  living 
honestly.    In  his  youth  he  had  been  in  a  counting-house,  in  Lyons, 

16* 


370  DARMENOH* 

where  he  had  forged  a  draft,  for  which  he  was  sent,  under  the 
Code  Napoleon  to  the  galleys.  It  is  generally  known  that  these 
slaves  are  cut  off  from  all  communication  with  the  world ;  and 
that  they  live  chained  together  in  couples ;  a  man,  not  very  evil 
may  thus  be  forcibly  joined  for  years  to  the  greatest  scoundrel  on 
earth ;  so  that  the  usual  result  is,  that  a  fellow  comes  out  of  the 
galleys  much  worse  than  when  he  went  in.  Even  when  one  comes 
out  with  some  honesty  left  in  him,  it  is  difficult,  or  even  impossi- 
ble, to  find,  after  so  long  absence  from  the  world,  an  honest  way 
of  making  a  living  or  even  a  lodging.  For  what  host  is  willing 
to  receive  as  guest  a  man  whose  passport  bears  the  words  "  freed 
galley-slave,"  which  will  oblige  him  to  notify  the  police  ?  Or  who 
will  sit  at  table  with  a  "  freed  galley-slave  V  As  I  have  always 
felt  an  involuntary  pity  for  these  outcasts,  and  knew  how  hard  it 
was  for  them  to  get  employment,  I  could  not  but  feel  for  Darme- 
non's  wretchedness,  nor  could  I  close  my  door  upon  him.  He 
had  made  himself  useful  to  me,  also,  and  kept  me  informed  of  all 
that  was  said  politically  in  those  troublous  times,  in  the  shops  of 
the  faubourg  St.  Antoine.  From  him  and  other  spies  I  learned  what 
old  arms  had  passed  the  various  barriers  at  daybreak — whither 
they  had  been  carried,  etc.  The  quantity  seldom  surpassed  100 
to  150  muskets  at  a  time.  One  morning,  however,  Darmenon 
informed  me  that  2600  muskets  had  passed  the  barriere  St. 
Denis,  and  were  taken  to  the  faubourg  of  the  same  name,  where 
so  much  illegal  business  goes  on.     I  went  immediately  to  the 

chief  of  division,  T.  de  L ,  and  he  procured  an  order  from  the 

marshal  to  purchase  the  muskets  at  any  price.  I  bought  them, 
but  not  without  rivalry,  nor  was  I  without  a  suspicion  that  this 
was  no  mere  second-hand  dealer's  affair.  I  inquired,  and  found 
that  my  rivals  were  the  agents  of  the  legitimists,  who  were  then 
very. busy  in  the  faubourg  St.  Denis.  During  other  small  pur- 
chases in  this  way,  I  heard  that  the  legitimists  were  in  the  field, 
and  that  scmething  unusual  was  going  on.  That  these  gentlemen 
really  had  a  hope,  of  overthrowing  the  government  appeared  to 
me  impossible.  However,  I  did  not  trust  to  appearances,  but 
instructed  Darmenon  to  keep  his  eyes  open,  and  to  bring  me  all 
the  news  he  could  collect.    Everything  remained  in  this  condition 


THE  CONSPIRATORS.  371 

all  the  month  of  January,  1832.  I  kept  my  own  counsel — for 
looking  upon  the  scheme  as  absurd,  I  saw  no  use  in  talking  about 
it.  On  the  first  of  February,  however,  Darmenon  came  to  tell 
me  that  several  legitimists  were  gathered  in  the  faubourg  St. 
Antoine,  in  expectation  of  a  mass  of  workmen,  about  12  o'clock, 
to  plant  the  standard  of  Henri  V.,  and  that  the  plot  wras  to  be 
organized  at  1  o'clock,  in  a  house  in  the  Rue  de  Saussayes.  He 
further  told  me  that  conspirators  would  leave  the  house,  18  Rue 
de  Prouvaires  at  10  P.  M.,  with  a  view  to  go  to  the  Tuileries, 
where  a  ball  was  to  take  place,  and  there  suddenly  to  surround 
and  carry  off  Louis  Philippe,  trusting  that  the  confusion  caused  by 
their  entrance  would  render  the  exploit  an  easy  one.  I  was 
amazed,  and  asked  Darmenon  how  he  had  learned  so  much  in  so 
short  a  time.  He  said  that  he  had  been  dealing  with  these  gen- 
tlemen for  some  time,  but  had  not  told  me,  because  I  would  have 
taken  it  as  a  hoax.  Now,  however,  that  the  matter  was  earnest, 
he  had  thought  it  his  duty  to  inform  me.  I  asked  him  for  the 
leaders'  names.  He  read,  from  his  pocket-book,  Poncelot,  Gech- 
ter,  Montholon,  and  others.  Finally,  he  said  that  he  had  been 
offered  6000  francs  for  200  muskets,  and  that  this  would  be  a 
good  opportunity  for  me  to  get  rid  of  some  worthless  and  unsale- 
able arms  in  my  possession.  I  sent  him  away,  with  directions  to 
return  so  soon  as  he  had  touched  the  6000  francs.  I  lived  then  at 
48  Rue  Basse  des  Ramparts,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  gone,  I  went 
to  Rue  de  Saussayes,  and  examined  from  the  other  side  of  the 
street  the  house  No.  23.  The  window-shutters  were  all  closed. 
From  time  to  time,  four  or  five  suspicious  looking  fellows  would 
appear,  and  slip  into  the  house,  amounting  to  about  20,  in  the 
course  of  half  an  hour.  I  now  saw  that  Darmenon's  representa- 
tions were  correct,  and  went  home.  He  soon  came  in,  with  2000 
francs,  as  earnest  money.  I  now  determined  to  lay  the  whole 
matter  before  the  prefect  of  police,  Gisquet,  whom  I  knew  person- 
ally, and  with  whose  former  firm,  Gisquet  and  Brunet,  in  Havre, 
I  had  once  been  closely  connected.  I  took  Darmenon  with  me. 
On  my  way,  as  it  was  exchange  hour,  I  determined  to  cross 
Exchange  Place,  to  learn  what  influence  the  various  reports  had 
upon  State  paper.     I  heard  of  a  sudden  fall  of  1  franc  50  cts.,  in 


372  THE  ARREST. 

the  3  per  cents,  which  was  attributed  to  the  heavy  sales  made  by 
the  legitimists,  particularly  those  of  the  faubourg  St.  Germain. 
I  found  M.  Gisquet,  and  told  him  all.  He  listened  carelessly,  and 
said  that  he  had  heard  exactly  such  information  two  or  three 
times,  and  yet  there  had  been  no  result — he  believed,  then,  there 
would  be  none  this  time.  I  then  asked  whether  the  2000  francs 
in  Darmenon's  pocket-book  went  for  nothing.  He  said  yes,  but 
not  for  much.  When  I  mentioned  the  sudden  fall  in  State  stock, 
he  laughed,  and  said  he  knew  the  cause  of  the  fall — that  Ouvrard, 
from  La  Hague,  was  attempting  to  dupe  the  people  again.  I  rose 
to  go,  when  he  called  back  Darmenon,  took  down  the  numbers  of 
the  two  houses,  and  the  names  of  eighteen  conspirators.  He  then 
left  us,  after  politely  thanking  me  for  what  he  called  my  perfectly 
useless  information. 

About  7  o'clock,  P.  M.,  Darmenon  came  to  my  counting-room, 
and  showed  me  6000  francs,  in  notes  of  1000  each,  asking  if  I 
would  give  him  200  muskets  for  that  sum,  and  deliver  them  about 
10  o'clock.  I  promised  him  an  answer  at  9  o'clock.  I  sent  him 
off,  and  went  at  once  to  the  prefect,  to  whom  I  said  that  Darme- 
non had  now  the  6000  francs,  and  I  asked  whether  I  should  deliver 
the  arms,  if  they  were  called  for  at  10  o'clock,  P.  M.  The  answer 
was  "Deliver,  but  in  small  quantities — I  will  have  them  fol- 
lowed." I  went  to  the  house  No.  32  Rue  Basse  des  Ramparts, 
where  I  had  a  small  warehouse  for  the  reception  of  the  daily  arri- 
ving muskets,  and  instructed  the  guardian  to  deliver  to  Darme- 
non, on  my  written  order,  30  or  40  muskets,  in  small  lots.  He 
told  me  the  next  morning  that  Darmenon  had  carried  off  17  mus- 
kets, and  had  been  arrested  on  his  return  for  more.  The  morning 
papers,  Feb.  2,  contained  the  news  that  M.  Carlier,  chief  of  muni- 
cipal police,  had,  about  11  o'clock,  surrounded  the  house  No.  18 
Rue  de  Provaires,  and  had  succeeded  in  capturing  the  whole 
band,  after  a  strong  resistance,  in  which  he  had  been  wounded  in 
the  head,  and  a  municipal  guard  killed. 

The  affair  came  before  the  first  section  of  the  Assize  Court  of 
the  Seine,  by  which  I  was  subpoenaed,  together  with  a  motley  col- 
lection of  329  others.  On  this  occasion  the  true  character  of  two 
persons  came  to  light,  Darmenon  and  Gisquet  himself.    Both  lied 


EXAMINATION  0P  THE  PREFECT.  373 

hard,  and  both  suffered  by  it.  That  Darmenon  appeared  as  a 
common  intriguer  of  the  lowest  class  of  Paris  is  not  wonderful, 
but  the  Prefect  Gisquet,  soon  after  lost  all  credit  at  court  and  in 
the  city,  was  stricken  from  the  list  of  State  Councillors,  and  expel- 
led from  his  prefecture.  The  democrats  alleged  that  he  himself 
had  arranged  the  whole  matter,  and  had  provoked  the  conspiracy 
by  his  agents,  simply  in  order  to  win  for  himself  credit  for  great 
vigilance ;  and  he  had  great  difficulty  in  disproving  the  charge. 
The  prosecutor  laid  great  weight  upon  the  circumstance  that  the 
prefect  had  allowed  me  to  deliver  some  muskets.  The  advocate 
of  the  accused  questioned  me  about  it,  and  I  said  what  is  already 
told  above.  Whereupon  the  Prefect  was  sent  for,  and  appeared 
in  full  uniform,  and  was  requested  to  take  a  seat.  The  Chief  Jus- 
tice then  said  that  the  Prefect  had  already  appeared  as  witness  for 
M.  Poncelot,  but  that  he  must  now  again  submit  to  examination, 
and  must  tell  the  truth,  although  an  oath  would  not  be  exacted 
from  him.  The  Prefect  expressed  great  respect  for  the  Court, 
but  he  must  beg  his  lordship  to  remark,  that  he  was  not  establish- 
ing, by  his  obedience,  a  precedent  by  which  prosecutor  or  accused 
might  annoy  and  derange  the  Prefect  of  Police  at  their  pleasure. 
This  impertinent  answer  caused  a  long  murmur  among  the  advo- 
cates. The  Prefect  had  fancied  himself  powerful  enough  to  insult 
the  whole  Parisian  bar.  After  his  general  testimony  came  what 
had  passed  between  us,  and  he  denied  that  he  had  authorized  the 
delivery  of  arms.  "I  swear,"  he  said,  stretching  out  his  hand — 
"  I  swear  by  my  honor,  that  I  gave  no  such  permission."  This 
was  so  exactly  in  opposition  to  my  sworn  testimony,  that  the 
Judge  called  me  back  for  re-examination.  I  confessed  that  I 
might  have  misunderstood  the  Prefect,  but  that,  to  the  best  of  my 
knowledge  and  recollection,  my  testimony  was  precisely  true.  I 
could  do  nothing  further,  and  so  went  home,  convinced  that  Gis- 
quet, who  had  given  his  honor  to  a  lie,  was  like  most  other 
Frenchmen,  and  held  the  word  of  honor  very  lightly.  How  hard 
it  was  for  the  Prefect  to  clear  himself  of  suspicion  the  end  will 
show.  Only  a  portion  of  the  accused  were  tried  here ;  the  rest 
were  sent  before  the  Court  of  the  Seine  and  Oise,  then  sitting  at 
Versailles,  to  be  judged  where  they  were  born.     I  was  subpce- 


3t4  THE  CONSPIRATORS  SENTENCED. 

naed  there,  but  before  the  court  opened,  Carlier — the  same  who 
had  arrested  the  men  in  the  Hue  defi  Prouvaires,  and  who  was 
Prefect  of  Police  for  a  while  under  Louis  Napoleon — Carlier  came 
to  me,  and  begged  me  to  free  the  Prefect,  who  liked  me  very 
much,  from  his  "  embarrassment,"  by  saying  nothing  about  the 
permission  to  deliver  the  arms.  As  I  had  modified  my  state- 
ment as  much  as  my  conscience  would  permit  me;  I  said  to 
M.  Carlier  that  I  would  say  nothing  if  I  were  not  asked ;  but 
that,  if  questioned,  I  could  conceal  nothing.  Fortunately  for  M. 
le  Prefect  the  question  was  not  asked. 

The  whole  number  of  accused  amounted  to  66,  of  whom  only 
56  were  arrested.  These  were  accused  of  a  complot  to  overthrow 
the  government,  and  of  arming  the  citizens  and  exciting  them  to 
civil  war.  The  court  sate  daily  from  the  4th  to  the  12th  of  July, 
and  charged  the  jury  to  give  their  attention  to  two  points ;  first, 
to  the  plot  itself,  and  second  to  the  part  taken  in  it  by  each  of 
the  accused.  The  jury  acquitted  28,  and  found  28  more  or  less 
guilty.     The  sentenced  were  as  follows  : 

6,  among  whom  was  Poncelet,  transportation  for  life. 

13,  five  years  imprisonment,  and  to  be  watched  by  the  police 
for  life. 

4,  two  years  imprisonment,  and  to  be  watched  for  two  years. 

5,  one  year  in  prison,  one  year  under  eye  of  police. 

The  plot  was  conceived  by  the  advocate  Gechter,  and  led  by  a 
ranger  of  Marshal  Bourmont.  These  two  received  the  second 
punishment. 

After  the  process  was  over,  M.  Gisquet  thanked  me  for  my 
retention,  and  declared  that,  in  fact,  he  had  thought  lightly  of  the 
matter,  until  I  had  taken  Darmenon  to  him,  at  8  o'clock,  P.  M. 
Later  he  said,  after  he  had  given  me  permission  to  deliver  the 
arms,  he  was  in  great  doubt  what  course  to  take.  His  words 
were,  "  To  arrest  those  men  will  be  to  make  all  to-morrow's 
newspapers  cry  out."  Carlier  put  an  end  to  his  indecision,  by 
saying,  "  They  are  armed,  but  we  are  superior  in  numbers — we 
must  enter  the  house  and  kill."  In  an  hour  this  was  done,  and 
Carlier,  as  before  said,  wounded. 

The  miristry  of  the  interior  was  then  in  the  hands  of  M.  Thiers, 


MERIT  REWARDED!  315 

Marshal  Soult  being  president  of  the  cabinet.  These  two  were 
jealous  of,  and  unfriendly  towards  each  other ;  the  marshal  often 
declared  that  he  hated  all  quill-drivers ;  and  Thiers  had  never 
renounced  the  pleasure  of  saying  in  society  something  about  the 
marshal's  orthography.  As  Minister  of  the  Interior,  it  fell  to  him, 
on  the  discovery  of  this  complot,  to  exercise  a  peculiar  vigilance 
over  the  person  of  the  king ;  and  when  Marshal  Soult  learned 
that  one  of  his  providers  had  discovered  the  plot,  he  was  dis- 
pleased that  I  had  not  come  to  him  instead  of  going  to  the  Prefect. 

I  learned  this  the  next  day  from  T.  de  L ,  who  said  to  me, 

"  You  will  see  that  the  entire  merit  of  the  discovery  will  be  for 
M.  Gisquet."  In  fact,  Gisquet  soon  after  received  the  cross  of 
officer,  and  Carlier  the  cross  of  member  of  the  Legion  of  Honoi . 

Two  years  after  losing  his  prefecture,  Gisquet  published  his 
memoirs,  in  which  he  gives  the  history  of  the  plot,  describes  his 
own  vigilance  and  its  happy  results,  and  does  me  the  honor  not  to 
say  a  word  about  me.  The  object  of  these  memoirs  was  to  apolo- 
gize for  his  administration  as  prefect ;  but  the  true  cause  of  his 
fall  was  his  gross  venality,  and  a  scandalous  intrigue  with  the 
wife  of  an  intimate  friend,  by  name  of  Foucault.  Gisquet's  corres- 
pondence with  the  lady  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  husband,  who 
bravely  published  it  in  Le  Messager.  This  step  of  Foucault 
brought  less  dishonor  upon  Gisquet  than  upon  himself,  through 
his  publication  of  his  wife's  shame. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

REMINISCENCES   OP   THE   ARTIST   WORLD  OF   PARIS.— PAUL 
DELAROCHE— 

His  complete  establishment  in  his  profession,  by  his  picture,  "  The  Beheading 
of  Lady  Jane  Grey" — Universal  impression  produced  by  the  picture — The 
cholera  in  Paris  in  the  summer  of  1832 — Delaroche's  contract  with  M. 
Thiers,  then  Minister  of  the  Interior,  for  the  decoration  of  the  walls  of  the 
Madeleine — He  goes  to  Rome,  to  complete  the  preparatory  studies — Thiers 
breaks  his  word,  and  thus  occasions  the  abandonment  of  the  contract  and 
Delaroche's  return  to  Paris — His  enviers  and  deprecators,  and  his  demeanor 
towards  them — The  painter  Charlet — An  anecdote  concerning  him — A  piece 
of  experience  and  information  *rom  the  monde  galant  of  Paris  enables  me 
to  give  him  a  hint  that  I  had  got  a  peep  at  his  cards,  and  had  made  out  his 
game — Some  sketchy  remarks  concerning  the  Coryphaei  of  the  Paris  school, 
such  as  Horace  Vernet,  Ingres,  Delacroix,  Decamps,  Ary  SchefFer,  and 
others. 

The  regular  course  of  my  business  in  1832,  and  most  of  1833, 
gave  me  leisure  to  cultivate  the  acquaintance  of  some  of  the  best 
artists.  First  of  all  was  Paul  Delaroche,  who  has  won  for  him- 
self the  title  of  the  greatest  historical  painter  of  the  age.  His 
real  Christian  name  is  Jean  Baptiste,  but  his  school-fellows  used 
to  call  him,  from  his  size,  "  little  Paul,"  and  he  took  the  name, 
and  gave  it  to  his  first  pictures.  I  visited  him  often,  talked  with 
him  for  hours,  and  envied  his  quiet,  self-contained  life,  when  I  con- 
trasted it  with  my  troublous  existence,  and  looked  back  to  the 
time  when  my  own  taste  called  me  to  become  a  painter,  and  pro- 
mised me  greater  plenty  of  happiness  and  usefulness  than  my 
pen-strifes  and  accountings  had  ever  won.  Born  in  the  second 
fatherland  of  art,  accustomed  from  childhood  to  the  works  of  the 
noblest  masters,  I  seldom  erred  in  my  appreciation  of  a  picture, 


PAUL  DELAROCHE.  §77 

and  Delaroche  listened  to  my  remarks  with  pleasure.  To  please 
me,  he  had  made  a  water-color  drawing  of  his  celebrated  "  Sons 
of  Edward,"  in  the  Luxembourg  gallery,  and  had  presented  me 
with  a  picture  called  "  The  beheading  of  Lady  Jane  Grey."  It 
was  a  sketch,  but  so  moving,  that  all  who  saw  it  at  my  house 
experienced  the  same  feeling.  I  wanted  Delaroche  to  paint  it  in 
life  size,  and  at  last  he  consented.  Madame  de  Montaut  was  one 
of  the  usual  visitors  at  his  studio.  She  was  born  Duchesse  de  la 
Rochefoucauld,  and  was  the  intimate  friend  of  the  Prince  Paul 
Demidoff,  who  afterwards  married  the  Princesse  Mathilde  Bona- 
parte, daughter  of  the  King  of  Westphalia.  *  She  possessed  influ- 
ence enough  with  this  gentleman  to  induce  him  to  buy  the  picture 
for  8000  francs,  which  was  2000  more  than  Horace  Vernet  had 
received  for  his  greatest  pictures,  even  for  "  The  Pope  carried  to 
St.  Peter's  by  the  Swiss  Guard,"  and  "The  Pope,  Michael 
Angelo,  and  Raphael,  on  the  porch  of  the  Vatican."  As  the  pic- 
ture drew  near  its  completion,  the  wild  enthusiasm  of  all  who  saw 
it  awakened  a  sort  of  sorrow  in  Delaroche,  that  he  had  sold  it  for 
8000  francs  ;  but  the  bargain  was  made.  Madame  de  Montaut 
undertook  to  influence  Demidoff,  who  was  prudent  in  his  extrav- 
agance, to  a  higher  offer ;  and  it  was  determined  that  I  should  get 
from  the  art  dealers,  Rittner  &  Goupil,  Rue  Montmartre,  a  letter, 
as  if  from  an  English  capitalist,  offering  15,000  francs,  and  request- 
ing me  to  lay  the  offer  before  my  friend.  The  letter  came  to  my 
hands,  from  which  it  passed  through  Delaroche's,  to  those  of 
Madame  de  Moutant,  and  thus  to  DemidofFs,  who  at  once  sent  to 
Delaroche  12,000  francs,  because  the  picture  so  much  surpassed 
his  expectation  ;  and  in  this  way  it  was  paid  for,  at  50  per  cent, 
above  the  original  price. 

From  this  moment  Delaroche's  pictures  rose  in  price.  Lord 
Francis  Egerton,  now  Earl  of  Ellesmere,  brother  of  the  Duke  of 
Sutherland,  declared  himself  ready  to  pay  Delaroche  35,000 
francs  for  a  picture  of  the  arrest  of  Charles  I.  by  the  soldiery  of 
Cromwell,  which  is  now  in  the  Bridgewater  gallery.  In  1832, 
while  the  cholera  was  raging  so  awfully  in  Paris,  that  for  weeks 
the  daily  li^t  of  deaths  was  900,  and  on  one  day  1000,  everybody 
who  could,  left  the  capital ;  and  Delaroche's  elder  brother,  who 


318  PRINCE  PAUL  DEMIDOFF. 

was  a  director  of  the  Mont  de  Piete,  wrote  to  me  that  he  was  in 
the  greatest  danger  ;  all  his  art  friends  had  quitted  Paris,  and  he 
needed  8000  francs  to  get  him  out  of  the  greatest  embarrassment. 
I  was  repaid  at  the  end  of  the  year  :  again,  as  in  Lafayette's  case, 
without  requiring  a  receipt.  Why  did  I  need  it.  Had  he  died, 
his  acknowledgment  would  have  done  me  no  good  ;  if  he  lived,  it 
was  useless.  Say  the  French,  "  An  honest  man's  word  is  better 
than  a  scoundrel's  money."  I  was  glad  to  be  able  to  help  not 
only  my  friend  Delaroche,  but  other  artists,  with  whom  I  lived  on 
intimate  terms.  Only  one,  to  whom  I  had  advanced  the  sum  of 
200  francs  for  a  water-color  picture,  failed  in  his  engagement.  He 
sold  the  picture,  and  four  years  after  paid  back  the  200  francs. 

Paul  Delaroche  is  a  noble  man,  who  perfectly  understands  his 
worth  as  an  artist,  and  keeps  his  word  as  a  man  ;  and  never  at  any 
time,  or  for  any  reason,  would  he  trifle  with  his  promise.  The 
raising  of  the  price  of  his  "  Lady  Jane  Grey,"  through  Madame 
de  Montaut,  cannot  be  cited  here  against  him,  for  he  had  nothing 
to  do  with  it ;  and  although  he  knew  the  manner  in  which  it  was 
done,  he  did  not  help,  but  only  tolerate.  Who  could  blame  him, 
especially  with  a  man  like  Demidoff,  who  never  knew  shame,  who 
was  ready  for  the  foulest  tricks,  and  who  never  listened  to  the 
voice  of  justice.  What  a  frightful  picture  of  moral  depravity 
would  the  secret  history  of  this  favorite  of  fortune  exhibit.  His 
veins  were  full  of  Cossack  blood ;  and  he  respected  even  the  sex 
of  women  so  little,  as  to  have  used  the  knout,  both  to  Madame  de 
Montaut  and  to  his  wife  the  princess  Mathilde.  Madame  de 
Montaut  knew  him  thoroughly,  and  was  sure  that  his  purse-pride 
was  almost  beyond  hearing  any  reason.  The  following  will 
show  Delaroche  in  his  true  light.  M.  Thiers,  Minister  of  the 
Interior,  determined  to  have  the  church  of  la  Madeleine  com- 
pleted, and  the  side  walls  covered  by  six  grand  pictures,  repre- 
senting scenes  in  the  life  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen.  He  wisely 
sought  Delaroche,  stipulated  to  pay  him  25,000  francs  for  each 
picture,  and  25,000  francs  more  for  a  voyage  to  Italy,  there  to 
make  studies,  and  procure  models,  which  were  not  to  be  found 
amid  the  Savoyard  physiognomies,  or  the  forms  of  the  Parisians. 
In  this  agreement  one  point  remained  unsettled,  the  finishing  of 


DELAROCHE  AND  M.  THEIRS.  379 

the  Hemicycle  which  should  connect  the  two  walls,  and  about 
which  the  minister  could  not  decide,  whether  it  should  be  painted 
or  sculptured  in  wood.  Delaroche  very  properly  held,  that  if 
painted  it  must  be  by  the  same  hand  that  should  paint  the  side  walls, 
since  another  artist  would  have  quite  another  idea  of  the  Magdalen. 
On  the  minister  asking,  what  would  be  the  price  of  this  last  pic- 
ture, he  replied,  "  Nothing."  He  had  nothing  further  in  view 
than  to  get  the  preference  as  painter,  and  he  left  the  price  to  the 
minister's  own  sense  of  propriety.  M.  Thiers  agreed.  Dela- 
roche received  the  first  25,000  francs,  and  went  to  Rome,  where  I 
saw  him  again  early  in  1835.  During  a  visit  to  his  studio,  where 
I  saw  rows  of  exquisite  sketches,  studies,  and  drawings  for  the 
painting  of  the  Madeleine,  he  received  a  letter  from  a  protectress 
and  friend  of  his,  Madame  Dosne,  mother-in-law  of  M.  Thiers, 
informing  him  that  the  minister  had  determined  to  have  the  hemi- 
cycle painted,  and  to  give  it  to  the  painter  Flandin.  She  had 
done  what  she  could  against  this,  but  in  vain.  Delaroche  at  once 
wrote  to  Thiers,  that  he  would  return  the  25,000  francs  received 
as  soon  as  he  arrived  in  Paris,  whither  he  determined  to  go  at 
once,  and  that  their  contract  was  at  an  end.  The  Marquis  of 
Montemart,  who  was  present,  another  friend,  and  myself  endea- 
vored to  dissuade  him  from  this  course,  but  in  vain.  He  left  us 
for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  then  brought  in  his  answer,  worded 
with  all  the  bitterness  of  a  wounded  artist  spirit.  Nor  would  he 
change  or  soften  one  expression.  "  M.  Thiers,"  said  he,  "  must 
learn  with  whom  he  is  dealing ;  that  I  am  a  man  of  honor,  and  not 
a  mountebank  like  himself." 

The  envy  of  his  brother  artists  rose  to  its  height  during  the 
exhibition  of  his  "  Beheading  of  Lady  Jane  Grey."  Delacroix,  the 
two  Boulangers,  Champmartin,  and  others,  formed  a  clique,  who 
devoted  themselves  to  his  overthrow  from  the  height  which  he 
had  won  so  lightly.  These  gentlemen,  who  had  themselves 
praised  the  picture  to  Delaroche,  usually  met  at  the  Sunday  re- 
ceptions of  Madame  de  Mirbel,  the  celebrated  miniature  painter 
of  the  faubourg  St.  Germain,  where  the  bitterest  criticism  was 
allowed,  and  where  gall  flowed  freely.  Madame  de  Mirbel's  rule 
was  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  all  the  notable  historic  painters, 


380  MADAME  DE  MIRBEL. 

that  these  might  suggest  her  name  to  all  their  friends  who  might 
be  in  want  of  miniatures.  She  had  invited  Delaroche,  but  he  had 
hitherto  neglected  the  invitation.  One  morning  I  told  him  of  the 
gossip  which  went  on  about  him  in  the  drawing-rooms  of  this 
lady,  and  told  him  he  should  go  there  himself,  and  see  and  hear 
what  was  going  on  with  reference  to  himself.  "  Not  bad  advice," 
he  said,  "  I  think  I  will  go  next  Sunday."  Accordingly,  to  the 
great  astonishment  of  all,  he  made  his  appearance.  Madame  de 
Mirbel  almost  fell  upon  her  knees,  and  seemed  utterly  confounded 
at  the  honor.  After  half  an  hour's  stay  he  took  leave  of  the  lady, 
who,  surrounded  by  her  satellites,  accompanied  him  to  the  door, 
saying,  "Ah !  M.  Delaroche,  why  go  so  soon  ?'?  His  answer  was, 
"  Pardon  me,  Madame,  I  have  accomplished  a  double  object  in 
coming  here  this  evening.  First,  I  came  to  pay  my  respects  to 
you ;  then,  as  I  am  busied  with  a  picture,  in  which  Hypocrisy 
and  Dissimulation  are  to  appear,  I  needed  some  studies  of  heads, 
and — (looking  round  upon  the  painters) — I  have  succeeded  per- 
fectly ;  I  have  found  them  :  Madame,  I  have  the  honor  to  wish 
you  good  night !" 

Super-eminent  talent  is,  unfortunately,  hated  and  envied.  De- 
laroche was  almost  isolated  in  the  world  of  art.  He  had  but  two 
friends  among  the  painters,  his  old  master,  the  celebrated  Ingres, 
and  Eugene  Lami,  painter  of  horses,  battle-pieces,  and  hunts.  I 
had  taken  his  red  and  black  crayon  sketches  of  the  murder  of  the 
Due  de  Guise,  with  me  to  Rome,  where  I  showed  them  to  several 
illustrious  artists,  who  almost  unanimously  attributed  their  origin 
to  the  days  of  Raphael,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  and  others.  No  one 
in  France  approaches  the  correctness  of  his  drawings,  not  even 
Ingres.  A  peculiarity  of  my  friend  is  his  extraordinary  resem- 
blance, in  head  and  features,  to  Napoleon — of  course  I  mean  Na- 
poleon I.  Since  the  early  death  of  his  wife,  only  daughter  of  the 
world-famous  Horace  Vernet,  he  has  lived  much  retired,  and  only 
for  his  two  children.  The  great  painting  in  the  Paris  Academy 
of  Fine  Arts,  in  which  he  has  brought  together  all  known  schools, 
is  the  most  perfect  work  of  his  pencil,  or  of  our  time. 

Of  the  other  painters  of  the  capital  whom  I  saw  about  me,  I 
liked  the  genial  Charlet  best,  although  I  had  little  taste  for  his 


THE  PAINTER  CHARLET.  381 

associations  and  habits.  He  had  no  manners  at  all,  and  painted 
almost  exclusively  scenes  from  the  pot-houses  and  barracks,  in 
which  he  spent  his  time.  He  knew  very  well  how  to  catch  the 
spirit,  and  embody  in  his  aquarelles  the  humor,  of  the  lower 
classes,  ouvriers,  invalides,  and  other  frequenters  of  the  wine-shops 
at  the  Barriers.  He  had  seen  Napoleon  several  times  in  his 
youth,  and  the  image  of  the  Emperor  was  so  strongly  impressed 
upon  his  mind,  that  he  could  draw  him  with  his  eyes  closed.  He 
has  frequently  done  this  for  me,  once  asking  where  he  should 
begin.  "At  the  heel  of  the  right  boot,"  I  said.  He  did  so,  and 
drew  the  whole  figure  perfectly  well. 

Charlet  was  always  determined  to  get  the  highest  prioe  for  his 
productions,  and  adopted  the  method  that  we  had  taken  to  elevate 
the  price  of  the  "  Lady  Jane  Grey ;"  only  in  Delaroche's  case  it 
was  the  exception,  while  it  was  Charlet's  rule.  One  day,  at  the 
door  of  a  court  in  the  rue  Vaugirad,  in  the  Faubourg  St.  Ger- 
main, where  Charlet's  studio  was,  one  of  his  young  scholars  saw 
me  getting  out  of  my  cabriolet,  and,  guessing  that  I  was  come  to 
see  about  an  aquarelle,  ran  in  before  me  to  announce  my  arrival. 
I  found  Charlet  just  in  the  act  of  finishing  a  drawing,  and  near  him, 
on  a  green-baize-covered  desk,  was  a  500  francs  bank-note,  stuck 
fast  with  a  pin.  "  What  are  you  doing  there  T*  said  I,  as  I  came 
in.  "  You  see,"  said  Charlet,  "  and  you  see  what  Durand  (an  art 
dealer)  has  offered  me  for  it."  "  And  you  did  not  accept  it !" 
"  No  ;  I  perceive  that  my  designs  are  the  rage  just  now,  and  I  ex- 
pect to  get  more  for  it."  "  Well,"  I  said,  "  I  think  it  well  paid 
for  at  500  francs."  Our  conversation  ended  here,  and  Charlet's 
face  fell  somewhat.  I  went  from  his  studio  to  Durand's  place, 
rue  neuve  des  Petits  Champs.  "  What  is  the  news  V  was  my  first 
question.  "  Nothing."  "  Have  you  seen  Charlet  lately  f  "  No, 
not  for  a  week."  I  then  told  him  that  I  had  seen  a  drawing  at 
Charlet's,  which  I  had  made  no  offer  for,  as  the  artist  held  it  rather 
too  high.  "  But,"  said  I,  "  if  you  can  get  it  for  200  or  250  francs, 
you  may  get  it  for  me."  About  two  hours  afterwards  he  brought 
me  the  aquarelle.  "  What  did  you  pay  for  it  ?"  I  asked.  "  200 
francs,"  he  answered,  "  but  its  price  to  you  is  250."  I  was  an- 
noyed at  this  ;  for  I  had  done  Charlet  certain  services,  and  had  no 


382  A  TENDER  CONFESSION. 

idea  that  he  would  attempt  such  a  trick  on  me.  I  thought  of 
some  little  punishment  for  him,  and  found  the  way  in  my  reminis- 
cences of  1819-20.  Here  I  must  interrupt  the  chronological  course 
of  my  narrative,  and  take  the  reader  back  some  thirteen  years. 

In  the  winter  of  1819-20,  that  part  of  the  Parisian  female 
world,  then  known  as  "femmes  galantes"  and  now  as  Lorettes,  had 
reached  its  zenith.  After  the  example  of  the  Duke  de  Berry,  all 
the  notabilities,  foreign  and  native,  formed  liaisons  with  these 
ladies.  The  example  spread,  and  I  was  not  exempt  from  its 
influence.  Very  lofty  intellectuality  was  not  expected  from  these 
ladies,  but  they  possessed  a  very  agreeable  society  intelligence, 
and  good  enough  manners  acquired  from  their  association  with 
people  of  haut-ton ;  they  conversed  well,  and  had  plenty  of 
frivolous  amiability,  and  offered  to  the  stranger  a  sort  of  society 
which  was  agreeable  when  one  had  nothing  better.  At  this  time 
the  great  opera  dancer,  Coulon,  was  giving  his  Sunday  evening 
soriees  dansantes.  tickets  to  which  had  to  be  earnestly  begged  for, 
besides  costing  40  francs.  The  men  of  these  soirees  consisted  of 
the  foreign  and  domestic  diplomats,  the  great  financiers,  as  Baron 
James  Rothschild,  and  illustrious  strangers  of  all  sorts.  The 
ladies  had  all  the  greatest  dancers  of  the  opera,  Fanny  Bias, 
Bigottini,  Noblet,  La  Gallois  and  others,  in  elegant  but  very 
simple  toilette,  and  the  better  class  of  femmes  galantes,  who 
usually  came  in  domino  to  intrigue  the  better.  The  opera  dancers 
commenced  a  quadrille,  in  which  they  exhibited  all  the  pro- 
priety of  ladies  du  grand  monde  ;  then  followed  occasional  other 
quadrilles  ;  waltzes  and  hop- waltzes  were  scarcely  thought  of,  and 
polkas  did  not  exist. 

At  one  of  the  soirees,  a  tender  mask  took  my  arm,  and  walked 
about  the  room  with  me,  chattering  gaily  with  French  frivolity. 
She  would  not  allow  me  to  lift  her  mask,  but  promised  to  do  so, 
if  I  would  visit  her  the  next  day  at  2  o'clock,  at  her  own  apartments, 
of  which  she  gave  me  the  address.  Of  course  I  went,  and  was  al 
lowed  to  wait  for  sometime  in  an  elegant  ante-chamber,  but  was  at 
length  introduced  by  a  pert,  freely  dressed  waiting  maid  into  the 
boudoir  of  the  lady.  She  rose  from  the  sofa,  and  addressing  me 
as  an  old  acquaintance,  offered  her  hand.     I  recognized  her  as  a 


PARISIAN  FIDELITY.  383 

Parisian  beauty  whom  I  had  often  seen  in  an  elegant  equipage, 
and  who  was  known  for  her  remarkable  beauty  as  the  Perle  de 
Paris.     She  told  me  that  her  liaison  with  the  Russian  Prince 

R ,  was  broken  by  his  recall,  and  that  she  was  now  free  as 

air.  Of  course  I  offered  to  play  the  Prince's  part  in  the  comedy, 
and  we  lived  very  amicably,  although  at  considerable  expense,  for 
three  months  together.  One  day  the  queen  of  my  heart  came  to 
me  and  begged  for  five  hundred  francs,  or  as  she  phrased  it,  "  a 
little  billet."  "  There  is  some  contrast,  said  I,  "  between  the  little 
billet  and  the  great  want  that  you  express.     It  is  a  good  deal  of 

money  for "  I  stopped,  and  she  continued.     "  For  a  fidelity 

like  mine,  eh  !  It  is  not  enough,  sir."  "  Oh,"  I  replied,  "  I  know 
the  song  in  the  Caliph  of  Bagdad, 

1  Jc  vous  serais  fidele  comme  on  Test  a  Paris.' 

Parisian  fidelity !  we  all  know  what  that  is  worth  a  yard." 
Meantime,  Madame  got  the  bank  note,  and  the  same  evening  we 
went  to  the  opera.  Two  ranges  from  us,  I  observed  a  large,  well- 
formed  man  of  ripe  age,  fixing  his  opera-glass  steadily  on  my 
companion.  "  It  is  the  Due  de  Vauguyon,"  (a  court  favorite), 
said  she  to  me.  "  He  has  been  madly  in  love  with  me  for  two 
years,  but  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  him."  After  the  opera 
we  went  home.  The  next  moment,  shortly  after  reaching  my 
lodgings,  the  waiting-maid  brought  me  the  following  note, 

Mon  Cher  Ami  : — Last  night  you  seemed  to  doubt  my  fidelity. 
I  am  now  going  to  prove  it  by  asking  you  to  read  the  enclosed 
note.  I  trust  that  it  will  convince  you,  for  I  intend  to  send  it  and 
its  enclosure  back  to  the  Duke.  Meanwhile,  I  embrace  you,  as  I 
love  you,  NINA. 

The  enclosed  letter  was  from  the  Duke,  and  told  her  that  she 
had  appeared  so  deliciously  handsome  at  the  opera,  that  he  begged 
leave  to  offer  two  notes  of  500  francs  each,  for  a  single  night 
with  her.  In  one  of  these  notes  I  recognized  the  one  I  had  given 
her  the  day  before.  My  ideas  upon  this  discovery  can  be  guessed 
at.     Of  course  I  was  convinced  of  the  value  of  Parisian  fidelity. 


S84  HORACE  VERNET. 

I  now  return  to  my  starting  point,  the  picture  of  Charlet, 
which  Durand  had  bought  me.  Some  days  after,  I  went  back  to 
Charlet's,  but  did  not  ask  about  the  picture  that  he  had  shown 
me.  We  talked  of  things  in  general.  After  I  had  gradually 
turned  the  conversation  upon  the  monde  galant,  I  told  him  the 
above  written  anecdote.  During  its  close  he  became  suddenly 
serious,  and  looked  at  me  with  a  look  that  I  can  never  forget ; 
tnere  was  a  sort  of  malicious,  cat-like  repentance  in  it ;  he  saw 
that  he  had  been  discovered,  and  that  I  was  telling  him  a  case 
parallel  with  his  own. 

All  this  was  twenty  years  ago.  The  position  and  progress  of 
the  French  schools  of  Art  were  very  little  known  in  Germany. 
Here  and  there  people  had  heard  generally  of  Horace  Vernet,  but 
he  was  first  remarked  and  esteemed  by  the  German  world  of  art 
when  he  became  Director  of  the  French  Academy,  in  Rome, 
where  the  young  German  art  students  first  became  acquainted 
with  him,  and  with  the  vividness  and  grandeur  of  his  varied 
creations.  The  most  amazing  peculiarity  of  this  rare  genius  was 
the  fidelity  to  nature,  and  the  extraordinary  truth  of  whatsoever 
came  from  his  pencil.  In  all  his  works,  even  in  the  most  unim- 
portant, one  is  convinced  that  the  subject  is  perfectly  reproduced ; 
even  the  least  details  seizable  by  the  eye  of  the  common  observer, 
are  faithfully  re-given.  This  is  the  case  with  all  his  pictures,  but 
his  pure  creative  powers  are  not  so  frequently  displayed.  Only 
one  of  his  works  now  in  the  Luxembourg  Gallery  would  belong 
to  this  last  category,  were  it  not  that  we  know  its  source.  I 
mean  Judith  beheading  Holofernes.  Both  heads  are  portraits. 
Judith  was  a  Jewess,  named  Pelissier,  then  Vernet's  mistress,  and 
who  served  him  long  as  a  model ;  she  then  became  Rossini's 
mistress,  in  Bologna,  and  after  Madame  Colbran's  death,  his  wife. 
The  drunken  head  of  Holofernes,  sunk  amid  the  pillows,  is  a 
portrait  of  Colonel  La  Boulaye,  Vernet's  table  friend,  and  a 
terrible  drinker.  Vernet,  it  is  said,  placed  him  in  the  position 
given  in  the  picture ;  also  placed  his  mistress  with  an  Asiatic 
sabre  in  her  hand,  in  her  relative  position,  and  so  sketched  them. 
The  picture  was  placed  in  the  following  exposition,  and  La 
Boulaye  was  universally  recognized.     The  artist  and  the  Colonel 


ANECDOTE  OF  VERNET.  385 

had  been  great  friends,  but  this  severed  them.  I,  who  had  become 
acquainted  with  la  Boulaye,  as  with  many  others,  at  the  Cercle 
Franfais,  on  the  Boulevard  Montmartre,  never  saw  him  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  picture  without  noticing  his  furious  look,  and 
I  agreed  with  others  who  thought  that  which  had  been  intended 
as  a  painter's  license  was  in  reality  falsehood  towards  a  friend, 
and  too  serious  for  a  jest.  The  vulgarest  brutality  of  a  drunken 
bandit  is  the  expression  of  this  open-mouthed  Holofernes. 

Horace  Vernet,  introduced  by  the  Bourbons,  advanced  by 
Louis  Philippe  and  his  princes,  especially  loved  and  immensely 
paid  by  Charles  Albert  of  Sardinia,  the  emperor  Nicholas,  and 
other  potentates,  was  a  very  eccentric  fellow.  I  saw  him  in 
Rome  in  1835.  And  it  was  thought  odd,  that  he,  no  longer  a 
young  man,  and  director  of  so  serious  a  school  of  art  as  the 
Trench  Academy  at  Rome,  should  so  far  forget  his  age  and  posi- 
tion as  to  dance  mazurkas  at  the  balls  of  the  English  gentry  then 
in  the  Eternal  City.  This  was  more  remarked  because  his  pre- 
decessor Ingres  had  erred  a  little  on  the  side  of  pedantry,  and  had 
a  certain  still  solemnity  of  manner,  on  which  very  account,  per- 
haps, he  was  esteemed  a  greater  artist  than  him  whom  the  Eng- 
lish called  "  a  capering  Frenchman." 

An  anecdote  of  Vernet  may  illustrate  his  eccentricity.  He  was 
in  Marshal  Bugeaud's  camp  just  before  the  battle  of  Isly,  the 
picture  of  which  won  him  so  much  reputation,  and  here  his  pre- 
sence was  generally  known  among  the  common  soldiers.  One 
of  these  warriors  wanted  to  send  his  portrait  to  his  mother,  and 
asked  Vernet  if  he  would  undertake  the  job,  and  at  what  price. 
Vernet  accepted,  but  declared  his  inability  to  paint  it  for  less  than 
twenty  francs.  The  soldier  thought  it  rather  high,  but  accepted 
on  condition  that  the  resemblance  should  be  perfect.  When 
finished,  it  was  exposed  to  the  man's  comrades,  and  as  their  ap- 
proval was  unanimous,  he  paid  the  price,  which  Vernet  pocketed, 
saying,  "  the  artist  must  live  by  his  pay."  A  couple  of  days 
afterward,  on  leaving  the  camp,  he  sent  twenty  Napoleons  to  the 
captain  of  the  company,  to  be  given  to  the  soldier  and  his  com- 
rades. 

Immediately  next  to  Vernet,  or,  as  many  think,  far  above  him 

17 


386  INGRES. 

comes  Ingres,  who  first  rose  into  fame  by  painting  a  ceiling  in  the 
Louvre,  "  the  gods  of  Olympus."  His  reputation  was  based  upon 
the  remarkable  correctness  of  his  drawing,  in  which  he  was  only 
surpassed  by  Delaroche.  His  coloring  is  without  life :  the  per- 
fection of  his  painting,  the  labor  of  five  years  is  his  Stratonice, 
purchased  by  the  last  duke  of  Orleans  for  12,000  francs,  and  re- 
cently sold  for  52,000.  The  Odalisque,  in  the  collection  of  M.  de 
Pourtales,  is  perhaps  his  best  work,  but  his  St.  Symphosien, 
although  it  received  nearly  as  much  praise  as  the  "  Beheading  of 
Lady  Jane  Grey,"  in  the  exhibition  of  1832,  is  a  failure.  In  this 
uninteresting  scene  from  the  life  of  a  saint,  Ingres  has  been 
mainly  occupied  in  exhibiting  his  power  of  foreshortening,  and 
has  painted  a  Roman  proconsul  on  horseback,  at  the  moment 
when  he  is  pointing  his  finger  at  the  spectator ;  so  that  the  finger 
is  foreshortened  from  its  point  back.  In  this  lies  its  "  main  at- 
traction," as  the  work  caused  by  the  drawing  of  this,  prevents 
critical  attention  to  the  rest  of  the  picture. 

Color  is  the  weak  point  of  Ingres ;  it  has  no  warmth.  Like  our 
German  Overbeck,  he  believes  that  Raphael's  second  manner  is 
the  best  and  only  school  for  the  painter,  but  in  coloring  he  re- 
mains far,  far  behind  his  master.  Delaroche  learned  this  peculi- 
arity from  his  master,  and  then  began  to  choose  from  various 
tints,  preferring  for  his  portraits  a  violet,  as  in  Sontag's  portrait, 
as  Donna  Anna  in  Don  Juan,  and  at  last  nearing  the  perfections 
of  Raphael's  third  and  last  manner,  the  manner  in  which  the  For 
narina,  Pope  Julius  II.,  and  the  Transfiguration  are  painted. 

As  draughtsmen,  all  other  noted  artists  of  the  French  school 
come  behind  Vernet,  Delaroche  and  Ingres ;  but,  as  colorists,  come 
three  names,  Eugene  Delacroix,  Decamps  and  Roqueplan,  and 
throw  all  others  into  the  shade.  The  first,  by  a  delicious  blending 
of  color,  and  by  the  wildness  of  his  fancy,  won  the  hearts  of  many 
writers  on  art;  for  instance,  that  critic  so  full  of  gall  and  mockery, 
Theophile  Gautier,  who,  with  some  others,  had  formed  an  art 
coterie  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  Delaroche  and  deifying 
Delacroix.  Delacroix  has  produced  some  superb  works,  as  for 
instance,  "  the  Women  of  Algiers,"  but  he  would  soon  be  recog- 


FRENCH  ARTISTS.  387 

nized  at  his  true  value,  were  it  not  for  the  flourish  of  trumpets 
kept  up  by  the  art-clique  above  mentioned. 

Shut  out  from  this  confederation,  living  still  and  alone  in  his 
fourth  story,  where  the  unfortunate  duke  of  Orleans  frequently 
visited  him,  almost  without  an  idea  of  what  correct  drawing  is, 
Decamps  has  produced  the  rarest  and  most  various  works  of  art, 
and  has  entirely  surpassed  all  his  companions  in  coloring.  His 
"Coming  Home  from  School  in  Cairo:"  his  "Battle  of  the  Cimbri:" 
his  "  Dog  and  Ape  pieces,"  on  the  Boulevard  du  Temple,  are 
perfect  master-pieces — in  all  lies  a  power,  a  vitality,  a  reality 
which  completely  captivates  the  spectator.  The  commonest  man 
stands  before  his  pictures  in  the  window  of  a  shop  whether  they 
represent  a  Savoyard  with  his  organ,  or  a  spring  in  an  Egyptian 
wood.  All  the  productions  of  his  pencil  have  a  magical,  inex- 
plicable attraction. 

Camille  Eoqueplan  is  far  from  the  greatest  of  these  artists,  but 
as  colorist  and  tasteful  painter  of  pleasant,  though  unimportant, 
life  pieces — as  Rousseau,  the  two  ladies  crossing  a  brook  on  their 
asses,  and  such  scenes,  he  has  won  a  deserved  reputation. 

Eugene  Isabey,  Bellanger,  Gudin  and  other  great  men  of 
the  French  school,  need  no  mention  here :  they  are  known  and 
prized  in  Germany :  but  I  must  record  one  name  of  German  origin 
in  proof  of  the  creative  art  of  the  Germans,  and  because  he  is  full 
of  poetry — this  name  is  Ary  Sheffer;  Goethe's  Margaret  return- 
ing from  the  well,  and  countless  pictures  of  like  nature  have  in- 
sured him  a  great  and  well  merited  celebrity. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

CLOSING  SCENES  AND  RESULTS  OF  MY  DELIVERY  OF  ARMS. 

A  secret  canker  at  work — The  undermining  of  my  prosperity  by  the  puer- 
ilities of  those  engaged  with  me  in  the  business — Loss  of  an  important  suit 
in  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce  at  Paris — I  grasp  at  a  straw — The  scheme 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Roman  5  per  cent.  Rentes  takes  me  to  Rome — 
My  visit  to  Italy,  after  an  absence  of  38  years — Florence — Rome — The 
aged  Duchess  Torlonia — Chiaveri,  her  son  by  her  first  marriage — The 
Tyrolese  Stolz,  Secretary  of  the  Papal  Treasurer,  Monsignor  Tosti— My 
chance-meeting  with  Ouvrard,  in  the  Villa  Borghese — My  return  to  France, 
by  way  of  Leghorn,  my  birthplace — Another  meeting,  of  an  unusual  kind, 
with  an  old  friend — The  beauty  of  the  Villa  Pandolfini — Disconsolate  cir- 
cumstances and  prospects — Lack  of  profitable  business  in  Paris. 

1  had  been  ordered  by  the  government  to  procure  400,000 
stand  of  arms,  viz.,  50,000  old  at  28  francs,  and  350,000  new  at 
32  francs.  Early  in  1833, 1  saw  that  it  was  impossible  to  supply 
all,  and  I  thought  myself  lucky  when  one  of  my  assistants 
obtained  from  St.  Quentin  &  Co.,  Paris,  a  contract  to  furnish 
100,000  muskets,  for  50,000  francs.  There  was  no  difficulty  in 
substituting  these  gentlemen,  at  least  from  the  war  ministry  ;  but 
the  sharper  who  had  arranged  the  affair,  and  who  had  gotten  pos- 
session of  the  certificate  of  substitution,  managed  by  some  means 
to  get  and  appropriate  to  himself  30,000  francs  out  of  the  stipu- 
lated sum.  The  worthless  fellow  kept  clear  of  me  for  some  time. 
At  the  ministry  of  war  I  learned  that  they  had  given  him  the  cer- 
tificate, and  from  St.  Quentin,  that  on  this  certificate  they  had 
paid  him  30,000  francs  on  account ;  that  he  had  not  demanded  the 
other  20,000,  which  were  now  at  my  disposal.  When  I  asked 
with  wonder  how  they  could  pay  him  such  a  sum  without  author- 
ity, I  was  told  that  he  was  my  partner  in  the  business.  I  might 
have  answered  St.  Quentin — what  would  have  led  to  a  lawsuit  and 


MORE  TROUBLE.  339 

been  published  all  over  Paris — that  my  associate  was  an  infernal 
scoundrel.  The  consequences  of  such  publicity  would  be  the  end 
of  my  business,  as  any  contractor,  whose  affairs  get  into  court,  is 
at  once  shut  out  from  all  futher  contracts,  and  if  he  have  one  at 
the  time,  it  is  considered  as  ended.  I  had  already  learned  that,  in 
France,  any  associate  in  such  a  contract  is  free  to  sell  a  share  of 
it  without  consulting  the  original  contractor,  and  the  purchaser, 
entering  into  all  the  rights  of  his  predecessor,  can  institute  an  ex- 
amination of  the  state  of  affairs  at  any  moment.  I  had  never 
thought  of  the  possible  introduction  of  third  and  fourth  parties 
into  a  business  which  required  so  much  secrecy.  I  found  myself 
surrounded  by  rogues,  who  used  me  at  their  will,  sucking  at  my 
purse  like  leeches,  and  threatening  me  with  legal  procedures,  and 
who  brought  me  at  last  to  the  resolve  to  shrink  from  nothing  that 
would  rid  me  of  them  at  once  and  forever.  The  weight  of  all  this 
can  scarcely  be  made  comprehensible  to  the  reader ;  he  will 
remember,  however,  that  I  had  a  contract  for  sabres.  Induced  by 
Daly's  recommendation,  I  had  given  the  superintendence  of  the 

fabrication  of  sabres  to  O ,  already  named.     He  showed  me 

contracts,  which  I  could  not  guess,  as  I  afterwards  discovered, 
were  made  with  men  who  had  failed,  who  had  neither  material, 
tools,  workmen,  nor  so  much  as  an  empty  workshop.  I  made 
advances  upon  these  contracts,  and  before  I  went  to  Marseilles  to 
close  the  concern  there  and  bring  my  family  back  to  Paris,  those 
advances  had  amounted  to  63,000  francs.     Immediately  on  my 

return,  I  asked  for  O 's  accounts,  and  received  empty  words. 

Not  a  sabre  could  he  show  me,  but  he  was  abundant  in  excuses 
for  the  delay.  At  last,  though  too  late,  in  order  to  get  at  the 
bottom  of  this  swindle,  I  went  to  the  workshop,  Faubourg  du 
Temple,  found  the  porter,  had  it  opened,  and  saw  an  empty  room, 
in  which  no  man  had  either  lived  or  worked  for  at  least  a  year. 

At  the  same  time  I  heard  that  O was  to  be  found  about  the 

restaurants,  on  the  Boulevard  des  Italiens,  where  he  spared  no 
expense  in  giving  superb  dinners  and  suppers.  Originally  of  good 
family  in  Marseilles,  his  tendency  to  dishonesty  drove  him  early 
to  Paris,  where  he  soon  became  an  accomplished  member  of  the 
society  of  swindlers  there.     He  had  nothing ;  had  had  nothing 


390  LOSS  OF  A  LAW-SUIT. 

for  years.  I  only  succeeded  in  annulling  our  agreement  by  giv- 
ing him  a  receipt  for  the  63,000  francs,  and  promising  not  to 
expose  him. 

It  will  do  no  good  to  draw  the  reader  through  the  labyrinth  of 

embarrassments  created  for  me  by  this  man's  comrade  G . 

It  is  useless  to  recall  the  torture  of  my  troublous  days;  the 
anguish  of  my  sleepless  nights.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  those  days 
in  Paris,  which  seemed  so  calm  and  bright,  but  really  full  of  secret 
cancers,  were  the  most  unfortunate  of  my  existence.  Up  to  April, 
1834,  I  had  no  hope  of  getting  over  my  difficulties,  as  I  had  so 
often  done  before — but  every  lapsing  minute  seemed  bringing  me 
nearer  to  beggary.  The  only  chance  I  had  lay  in  a  draft  for 
150,000  francs,  drawn  by  the  Carlist  Junta  in  Paris  upon  the 
bishop  of  Oviedo,  head  of  the  Carlist  ministry  in  London,  and 

accepted  by  him.     This  draft  had  been  given  to  G by  the 

Junta  in  payment  of  several  supplies,  and  had  at  last  been  gotten 

hold  of  by  my  clerk  P ,  who,  thoroughly  instructed  about 

G 's  rogueries  and  cheatings,  followed  him  with  jealous  vigi- 
lance, and  at  last  recovered  thus  much  of  my  fortune.  The  draft 
I  delivered  to  Andre  and  Cottier.  The  Junta  soon  saw  what  a 
sharper  they  had  in  G ,  whom  they  had  appointed  Com- 
missary-General, and  thoroughly  trusted.     They  demanded  the 

draft!     G could  not  of  course  return  it.     A  suit,  commenced 

against  me  as  holder,  in  the  Paris  Chamber  of  Commerce,  was 
decided  in  favor  of  the  President  of  the  Junta,  not  only  on  the 

ground — that  I  had  given  no  value,  and  that  G had  received 

it  on  account  and  must  remain  my  debtor  for  it — but  also  that 
G ,  in  all  this  business  of  supply,  was  notoriously  my  part- 
ner, and  that  the  transfer  of  the  draft  from  one  partner  to  the 
credit  of  another  was  certainly  illegal.  This  decision  overlooks 
two  important  points :    The  one, — that  I  had  dearly  purchased  a 

complete  separation  from  G ,  years  before ;  and  second, — that 

the  draft  came  into  my  possession  not  directly  through  G 's 

endorsement,  bnt  through  a  third  person.     A  letter  from  G 

confessing  his  swindling,  and  saying  that  he  would  be  unhappy  for 
life  if  he  should  not  be  able  to  pay  most  of  his  debt  to  me,  did 
not  help  me.     The  court  had  decided,  and  I  lost  the  suit. 


COMBINATION  OF  BANKERS.  391 

While  still  in  doubt  which  way  to  turn,  a  straw  presented  itself 
to  me,  and  like  a  drowning  man  I  clutched  it,  vainly  hoping  that 
*t  might  save  me.  An  old  legitimist,  apparently  highly  honora- 
ble, the  Count  V ,  who  had  spent  most  of  his  life  in  Rome,  was 

now  in  Paris,  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  the  bankers  to  make  a 
common  operation,  with  a  view  of  changing  the  debt  of  the  Papal 
States  from  5  into  3  per  cents,  which  appeared  easy  enough, 
because  of  the  high  price  of  the  5  per  cents,  viz.,  102  to  104  francs. 
This  was  the  measure  of  Monsignor,  now  Cardinal  Tosti,  Papal 

Treasurer.     Count  V ,  had  heard  of  me  in  Paris,  as  a  man  of 

business,  where  my  arm  contracts  had  gained  me  some  reputation, 
and  came  to  see  me.  After  setting  before  me  the  whole  condi- 
tion of  affairs  in  Rome,  showing  me  his  papers  and  correspond- 
ence, and  removing  all  doubt  as  to  Monsignor  Tosti's  concern  in 
the  matter,  he  came  to  the  feasibility  of  the  projected  conversion, 
and  induced  me  to  lay  the  matter  before  Andre  &  Cottier.  The 
Parisian  bankers  were,  at  this  time,  in  peculiar  relationship 
with  the  Rothschilds.  The  enormous  power  possessed  by  these 
bankers,  not  only  with  the  French  government  but  with  foreign 
States,  had  caused  much  annoyance  to  the  other  great  financiers, 
and  six  of  them  determined  to  unite,  and  attempt  a  rivalry  with 
the  Rothschilds.  These  were  Jon.  Hagerman,  Andre  &  Cottier, 
B.  A.  Fould  &  Openheim,  J.  A.  Blanc,  Colin  &  Co.,  Gabriel 
Odier  &  Co.,  and  Wells  &  Co.  In  the  loan  asked  by  the  Sardi- 
nian^ government,  on  the  plan  of  the  Paris  city  lottery,  these  six 
had  gotten  the  affair  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Rothschilds.  Hager- 
man had  been  very  influential  in  this  matter,  from  the  fact  of  hav- 
ing established  the  greatest  banking  house  in  Genoa ;  besides 
being  very  intimate  with  Caccia,  the  Sardinian  minister,  and  his 
brother  the  banker,  in  Paris.  The  latter  lacked  means  and  influ- 
ence to  carry  out  his  brother's  measure,  and  thus  it  got  into  the 
hands  of  Hagerman.  The  Rothschilds,  who  had  forgotten  how  to 
suffer  rivalry,  found  this  blow  strong  enough  to  arouse  their  ven- ' 
geance,  and  they  resolved  to  make  it  as  costly  as  possible.  They 
procured  a  fall  upon  Parisian  government  paper,  which  brought 
down  the  Sardinian  lower  than  the  price  contracted  for.  This 
shook  the  confederation  of  six ;  but  Andre  &  Cottier  saw  so  clear 


392  ftETURN  TO  FLORENCE. 

an  advantage  in  the  proposed  Papal  oonversion,  that  after  mature 
deliberation  of  the  league,  they  resolved  to  send  me  to  negotiate 
with  the  Roman  Treasury,  and  to  promise  the  conversion  at  70. 
I  had  no  written  instructions,  and,  if  I  came  to  no  result,  must 
pay  my  own  travelling  expenses.  These  terms  were  rather  hard, 
"but  as  I  had  no  choice,  I  determined  to  go.  Without  full  power 
to  treat  for  these  six  firms,  I  was  yet  obliged  to  make  something 
of  a  figure  among  people  who  knew  nothing  of  me.  Two  things 
helped  me.  My  good  friend  Lestapis,  who  had  quitted  the  Hope 
firm,  and  lived  in  Paris,  would  give  me  a  letter  of  credit  for  an 
important  sum  on  Torlonia  &  Co. — a  sum  not  to  be  used,  how- 
ever— and  the  old  Duchess  Torlonia,  who  had  had  a  notorious 
penchant  for  my  father,  still  lived  in  Rome.  This  was  all  that 
was  necessary  for  a  respectable  position  in  Rome.  It  was  towards 
the  end  of  November  that  I  set  out  for  the  land  of  my  birth, 
which  I  had  last  seen  in  1797.  Seven  and  thirty  years  had  gone 
since  I  had  looked  on  the  world  with  sanguine  feelings,  hopes,  and 
expectations ;  a  term  of  years  that  had  been  over-filled  with  man- 
hood's bitterest  experiences.  Retrospection  was  not  without  its 
clouds ;  and,  looking  forward  into  the  future,  all  was  gloomy. 

I  went  by  Geneva  and  the  Simplon  to  Milan ;  thence,  b\ 
Bologna,  to  Florence.  I  could  not  repress  my  emotions,  when, 
from  the  heights  of  the  Appenines  to  Pietramala,  the  Val  d'Arno 
was  seen,  with  Florence  in  its  bosom.  Scarcely  arrived,  I  has- 
tened from  the  Porta  Imperiale  out  towards  the  grand  ducal  sum- 
mer-palace Poggio  Imperiale ;  then,  to  the  left  hand,  through  the 
vineyards,  towards  the  village  of  San  Leonardo  and  the  villa  Pan- 
dolfini.  Alone  I  went,  skirting  the  vineyards,  to  the  door  of  the 
villa,  which  was  opened  to  me  by  an  old  peasant  woman.  I  did 
not  know  her,  but  she  expressed  her  willingness  to  show  me  the 
house,  and  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  me  quite  at  home 
throughout  it.  Tables  and  chairs  were  those  of  thirty-seven 
years  ago ;  no  trace  of  change  was  there,  but  also,  no  trace  of 
those  who  once  had  dwelt  there.    Then  I  asked  for  the  inhabitants 

of  the  next  villa,  S ,  where  my  young  beauty  had  resided. 

All  gone,  or  dead — only  the  old  gardener-m  alive.  I  went  to  see 
her:  and  after  a  while,  hearing   me   speak  of  everybody,  she 


ANECDOTE  OF  M.  CHIAVERL  393 

remembered  me.     "  And  your  young  lady,  la  Signora  Caterina, 

dove  si  trova,  where  is  she  V     "  Married,  and  living  in  Leghorn." 

I  returned  to  the  city.     Early  next  morning  the  post  brought 

me  letters ;  one  from  Rome,  in  an  unknown  hand.     It  was  from 

the  factotum  of  Count  V ,  who  had  preceded  me  to  Rome,  and 

had  announced  to  Cardinal  Tosti  the  approach  of  an  ambassador 
from  the  bankers  of  Paris.  The  letter  said,  that  soon  after  his 
return  from  Paris,  the  Count  died,  but  that  his  death  would  make 
no  difference  in  this  matter :  that  the  way  was  open  for  me,  and 
that  I  would  find  it  easy  to  bring  matters  at  once  to  a  close.  I 
immediately  left  Florence,  and  on  my  arrival  at  Rome  went  at 
once  to  the  house  of  Torlonia  &  Co.,  and  presented  my  letter  of 
credit  to  a  gentleman  named  Chiaveri,  who  was  pointed  out  to 
me  as  one  of  the  firm.  This  was  one  of  the  old  Duchess  Torlo- 
nia's  sons  by  her  first  marriage.  He  read  my  letter  of  credit  and 
introduction  attentively,  and  asked  me  if  I  were  from  Leghorn, 
and  of  the  family  of  the  former  head  of  the  Otto-Frank  house, 
Signor  Enrico  Nolte.  I  said  yes,  I  was  his  son.  He  then  said, 
that  his  mother,  now  eighty  years  of  age,  remembered  my  father 
very  affectionately,  and  would  receive  me  with  much  pleasure ; 
he  would  himself  ask  permission  to  introduce  me.  M.  Chiaveri 
had  a  terrific  squint.  The  rays  of  light  crossed  the  point  of  his 
nose  so  exactly  that  a  fly  could  not  have  sate  thereon.  The  Eng- 
lish in  Rome,  most  of  whom  had  credits  with  Torlonia,  told  this 
anecdote  of  him.  They  used  to  complain  of  his  customary  charge 
of  a  scudo  for  postage  on  every  letter,  large  or  small,  which  they 
were  obliged  to  use  in  these  credits ;  but  they  paid  it  in  order  to 
get  invited  to  the  splendid  balls  and  parties  of  the  Torlonias. 
An  Englishman,  not  to  be  found  there,  was  looked  upon  as 
nobody.  The  unfortunate  Queen  Caroline,  of  England,  when 
there,  had  ordered  her  secretary  and  treasurer,  Sir  William  Gell, 
to  draw  some  money.     He  wrote  the  draft  in  English,  and  in  the 

usual  form — "  Pay  to  or  bearer."     For  want  of  a  better 

word,  he  used  the  meaningless  one,  "  Squintum"  and  sent  the  draft 
by  a  Yorkshire  servitor  to  be  cashed.  When  Chiaveri  had  read 
the  draft,  he  looked  at  the  man,  as  if  to  identify  him,  and  asked, 
''  Are  you  Squintum  V     The  poor  fellow,  amazed  at  the  cross-fire 

17* 


394  ST.  PETER'S  CHURCH. 

of  those  most  crooked  eyes,  replied  "  No,  sir,  'tis  more  likely  you 
should  be  the  man." 

From  Torlonia's  I  went  to  look  up  the  bosom  friend  of  Count 
V ,  and  soon  succeeded  in  finding  him.  He  was  a  French  legit- 
imist, long  resident  in  Rome :  his  name  I  have  forgotten  ;  but  one 
of  the  first  things  he  said  was,  that  it  was  well  that  it  had  pleased 
Heaven  to  take  away  the  count,  who  was  a  great  talker,  but 
worth  little  in  action  ;  that  he  knew  nothing  of  business,  and  yet 
would  have  expected  a  share  in  this.  I  soon  discovered  that  the 
speaker  was  quite  as  ignorant  of  finance  as  the  count  could  have 
been.  He  desired,  meanwhile,  to  introduce  me  to  Mr.  Stolz,  a 
Tyrolean,  and  private  secretary  to  Monsignor  Tosti.  As  this 
visit  would  not  take  place  until  the  next  day,  I  had  time  to  visit 
Rome's  greatest  wonder — one  of  the  greatest  on  earth — St.  Peter's 
church.  I  was,  like  most  other  travellers,  at  first  deceived,  almost 
disappointed — my  ideas  of  its  size  were  so  much  vaster  than  it 
now  appeared.  At  first,  as  I  have  said,  it  is  impossible  to  grasp 
the  true  grandeur  of  this  masterpiece  of  architecture.  It  is  only 
when  you  reach  one  of  the  semicircular  colonnades,  that  enclose 
the  space  before  the  church,  and  see  the  willows  sixty  feet  in 
height,  and  begin  to  compare  heights,  that  you  at  all  comprehend 
the  immensity  of  the  pile,  wherein,  for  many  centuries,  artists  and 
laics  have  met  from  many  lands  to  wonder,  and  countless  troops 
of  pilgrims  come  to  pray. 

In  Napoleon's  Museum,  at  Paris,  thirty  years  ago,  I  had  be- 
come acquainted  with  other  chefs-d'oeuvre  of  art.  Laocoon,  Apollo 
Belvidere,  the  Gladiator,  Raphael's  transfiguration,  and  many 
others.  And  yet,  to  use  Meinan's  words  (in  Kotzebue's  Men- 
schenhass  und  Meue,  when  he  bewails  his  days  of  misfortune), 
"  Welcome,  old  friends,  'tis  long  since  we  have  met."  Four  and 
twenty  years  had  elapsed  since  I  last  saw  them,  and  now,  what 
gave  me  greatest  pleasure  was,  to  see  them  standing  there,  on  the 
old  classic  ground,  beneath  the  blue  Roman  sky,  and  not  afar  as 
trophies  of  the  conqueror. 

I  found  in  M.  Stolz  a  very  intelligent,  well-educated  young 
man,  who  promised  the  fixing  of  an  hour  for  the  business  that  had 
called  me  to  Rome.     I  here  set  before  him  all  the  calculations  and 


MENTAL  ANXIETT.  395 

combinations  which  I  had  made  in  Paris  for  the  conversion,  all  of 
which  he  quickly  comprehended.  Then  came  the  question,  what 
guaranty  would  the  Holy  See  have  for  the  fulfilment  of  a  treaty 
made  with  me  1  I  could  only  say,  "  The  names  of  the  United 
Paris  bankers."  And  as  I  was  not  yet  at  liberty  to  mention 
those  names,  I  added,  "These  names  will  no  longer  remain  a 
secret  after  the  settlement  of  the  contract ;  and  if  you  are  not  con- 
tent, I  will  be  the  first  to  strike  a  pen  through  it."  I  let  fall  a 
word  about  being  known  at  Torlonia's,  and  M.  Stolz  was  quieted. 
The  reader  will  understand  my  position.  I  had  no  mission  or 
commission  to  come  to  Rome  ;  it  was  simply  a  visit  at  my  own 
risk  and  cost,  and  from  it  might  possibly  result  my  being  rees- 
tablished in  Paris,  in  that  position  which  I  had  held  so  long,  and 
from  which  I  had  been  ousted  by  my  involuntary  and  perilous 
relation  with  a  brace  of  scoundrels.  The  bankers  of  Paris  would 
be  quite  ready  to  pick  up  the  fallen  fruit,  if  I  should  make  my 
voyage  successful ;  and  it  is  also  clear,  that  I  could  have  taken  no 
part  in  a  treaty  with  the  Papal  treasury  without  their  definitive 
sanction.  M.  Cottier's  word  for  this  sanction  was,  however, 
enough  to  induce  me  to  do  all  I  could. 

Some  days  elapsed  before  M.  Stolz  was  sufficiently  instructed 
about  the  basis  of  the  conversion,  and  the  means  of  payment,  to 
lay  it  before  his  superior,  Monsignor  Tosti.  At  last  he  succeeded, 
and  told  me  that  the  prelate  would  soon  appoint  a  day  to  hear 
me,  and  give  me  his  decision.  I  should  have  enjoyed  my  leisure 
in  gratifying  my  love  for  art,  had  I  been  able  to  forget  my  own 
situation,  and  the  uncertainty  of  my  future.  But  this  thought 
overpowered  my  tastes,  and  all  I  could  do  was  to  keep  it  to  my- 
self,  /aire  bonne  mine  a  mauvais  jeu. 

In  one  of  my  morning  walks  through  the  lordly  villa  Borghese, 
1  fell  suddenly  upon  M.  Ouvrard,  whom  I  had  last  seen  five  years 
before  (1830)  in  great  prosperity  in  Paris.  The  source  of  this 
prosperity  was,  that  he  knew  of  the  Polignac  Ordinances  eight 
days  before  they  were  published.  As  soon  as  he  felt  sure  of  it 
he  made  an  arrangement  with  some  Paris  bankers  and  exchange 
agents,  and  hastened  to  London.  Here  he  sold  so  much  French 
state  paper,  at  constantly  falling  prices,  that  the  house  of  Roths- 


396  OUVRARD  IN  ROME. 

child,  astonished,  sought  its  cause  from  the  first  merchants,  and  for 
the  same  purpose  sent  a  courier  to  Paris.  All  in  vain.  Baron 
James  Rothschild,  who,  a  few  months  before,  had  negotiated  the 
last  governmental  loan,  by  the  emission  of  a  4  per  cent,  stock,  at 
102  frances  7  cents,  betook  himself,  on  Saturday  evening,  to  Prince 
Polignac,  and  asked  for  light.  The  possibility  of  the  Ordinance 
was  an  exchange  rumor,  but  very  uncertain ;  and  when  the  Baron 
James  left  the  prince,  he  did  not  conceal  that  the  latter  had  given 
him  his  word  of  honor,  that  the  measure  was  a  mere  project,  never 
seriously  contemplated,  and  still  but  a  chimera.  But  the  next 
day  (Sunday,  25th)  Charles  X.  signed  the  Ordinances,  and  they 
were  published  in  the  Moniteur  on  Monday.  The  whole  loan  of 
francs,  78,373,750,  lay  in  the  hands  of  the  Rothschilds.  Ouvrard 
had,  at  another  time,  won  a  large  sum,  variously  estimated,  but 
which  his  exchange  agent,  Arnet,  who  was  also  mine,  set  down  at 
2,000,000  francs.  As  soon  as  he  heard  of  this  fortunate  combina- 
tion he  returned  to  London,  and  leased  a  whole  floor  behind  the 
Exchange,  near  the  Hotel  de  Tours,  and  furnished  it  with  the 
utmost  luxury.  Here  exchange  agents  were  left  in  the  ante- 
chamber, and  directions  given  to  chosen  ones,  in  his  private  room, 
for  the  daily  operation  in  the  Exchange.  His  operations  were 
always  &  baisse;  and  as  the  stock,  even  after  Cassimir  Perrier's 
entry  into  office,  fell  to  52,  and  even,  in  February,  1831,  to  48 
francs,  his  extraordinary  gains  may  be  imagined — that  is,  partially, 
for  no  one  could  exactly  measure  the  extraordinary  extent  of  his 
operations.  Since  that  time  I  lost  sight  of  him,  and  heard  that 
his  enormous  gains  had  gone  to  his  step-son,  Blanchard  ;  and  now 
I  met  him  in  the  villa  Borghese,  dressed  neatly,  but  somewhat 
poorly,  and,  as  I  afterwards  learned,  in  great  embarrassment.  He 
told  me  that  the  affairs  of  his  friend,  the  wife  of  Godoy,  once 
Prince  of  Peace,  had  drawn  him  to  Rome.  He  had  probably 
been  offered  a  home  by  this  lady.  My  feelings  may  be  guessed, 
as  I  thought,  that  I  too  might  be  obliged,  by  my  cross  fate,  to 
seek  a  home  with  somebody ;  for  I  saw  this  man,  who  at  one 
time,  by  his  mighty  and  well-practised  talent,  had  more  influence 
in  Spanish  finance  than  Godoy  himself,  who  had  had  100  tons  of 


RESULT  OF  THE  NEGOTIATION.  397 

gold  at  his  disposal,  a  poor  old  man,  but  still,  in  appearance, 
unbent. 

After  I  had  seen  and  spoken  to  M.  Tosti,  my  negotiation 
appeared  drawing  to  a  close.  Unbroken  silence  was  promised  on 
both  sides,  but  discretion  is  a  rare  virtue  with  papal  officers. 
Something  had  gotten  out  about  the  object  of  my  voyage  to  Rome, 
and  something  was  known  through  the  agents  whom  the  Roths- 
childs kept  in  their  pay  in  most  courts.  It  was  not  strange,  then, 
that  their  house  in  Naples  should  get  wind  of  it  and  send  one  of 
their  younger  partners  to  Rome.  As  soon  as  he  learned  what 
had  occurred,  and  the  real  position  of  affairs,  he  produced  the 
original  contract  of  a  loan  made  by  his  house  with  Torlonia's  at 
5  per  cent.,  which  contained  a,  till  then,  secret  clause,  binding  the 
Pontifical  government  to  close  with  no  other  house  without  in- 
forming the  Rothschilds,  and  then  to  give  them  the  preference. 
This  earlier  loan  was  made  before  Monsignor  Tosti  was  in  the 
Finance  Department  and  he  was  quite  ignorant  of  it.  This  disco- 
very placed  me  in  the  position  of  one  who  after  ploughing  and 
sowing  a  field,  and  seeing  the  harvest  almost  ripened,  beholds 
another  come  and  reap  the  crop.  It  was  then  determined  to 
arrange  the  Conversion,  and  leave  it  with  the  Rothschilds  and  my 
confederation  in  Paris.  It  was  evident  that  if  the  affair  were  a 
good  one,  all  of  these  gentlemen  could  see  it,  and  that  the  con- 
federates would  not  be  willing  to  have  it  taken  from  them.  They 
notified  the  Rothschilds  that  their  opposition  would  throw  difficul- 
ties in  the  way  of  future  transactions,  from  which  resulted  that 
nothing  better  could  be  done  than  to  have  a  friendly  understand- 
ing and  participation  in  all  future  loans.  The  result  wras  a  mutual 
understanding. 

This  ended  my  sojourn  in  Rome.  I  then  went  by  Civita  Cas- 
tellana,  Spoletto,  Perugia,  and  Florence,  to  my  birth-place,  Leg- 
horn, which  I  had  not  seen  for  eight-and-thirty  years,  but  where  I 
met  my  brother  Henry,  who  lived  in  the  pleasantest  relations 
with  Webb ;  a  book-keeper  of  the  former  house  of  Otto  Frank, 
now  ninety  years  old ;  the  Englishman,  Betts,  and  finally,  my 
beauty  of  the  villa,  Pandolfini,  now  married  the  second  time,  and 
Wearing  false  hair  and  teeth.     Betts,  who  had  for  some  time  been 


398  DEATH  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  ORLEANS. 

blind,  recognized  my  voice  and  called  me  by  name :  but  the  lady, 
nearly  sixty,  had  studied  certain  attitudes  so  as  to  introduce  more 
effect  into  her  meeting  with  her  youthful  adorer ;  who  now,  fifty- 
five  years  old,  was  somewhat  embarrassed  at  the  sight  of  the 
change  produced  in  her  by  a  lapse  of  forty  years.  However, 
both  did  pretty  well,  and  she  showed  me  a  locket  containing  two 
braids  of  hair  of  different  colors.  "  Guess,"  she  said,  with  as 
loving  a  look  as  sixty  years  can  give,  "  where  this  hair  comes 
from.  One  braid  is  my  first  husband's  hair :  the  other,  you  must 
know,  is  yours."  "  And  did  you  wear  this  locket  on  your  neck 
on  your  wedding-day '?"  I  asked,  with  amazement.  "  Certainly," 
was  the  answer.  "  My  first  marriage  was  notoriously  a  marriage 
de  convenances  At  this  moment,  a  young  man  of  some  five-and- 
twenty  came  forward.  "  But  this  second,"  said  I,  "  is,  I  suppose, 
a  love  match."  She  pressed  his  hand  and  said,  "  Undoubtedly." 
The  lady  was  a  rich  widow,  the  husband  a  Swiss,  with  strong 
calves  to  his  legs,  and  little  money  in  his  purse.  How  far  the 
"  love  "  of  this  match  was  reciprocal,  I  did  not  inquire.  Probably 
both  saw  good  reasons  for  the  marriage,  and  were  satisfied. 

After  a  three  weeks'  visit  at  Leghorn,  I  went  to  Genoa.  On 
the  steamer  were  the  former  King  of  Westphalia ;  the  present 
Prince  Jerome,  and  his  niece,  Countess  Camerata,  from  Bologna, 
daughter  of  Princess  Eliza  Bacciocchi,  Napoleon's  sister.  The 
Countess  was  a  great  lump  of  flesh,  with  her  uncle's  face,  only 
stupefied.  Jerome  appeared  to  me  exactly  as  the  history  of  1814 
has  described  him,  a  man  whose  personal  insignificance  rendered 
the  dignity  he  desired  naturally  impossible.  In  Genoa,  I  learned 
from  the  popular  Galignani's  Messenger,  the  sudden  death,  sad  to 
every  philanthropist,  of  the  most  promising  prince  of  his  time, 
the  Duke  of  Orleans.  I  cannot  describe  my  feelings  of  sorrow, 
for  I  knew,  as  though  I  had  been  a  Frenchman,  what  France  had 
lost,  as  a  man,  what  mankind  had  lost,  and  what  the  future  peace 
of  Europe  would  suffer  by  this  death.  I  felt  in  the  same  way, 
when  in  the  hall  of  the  Travellers'  Club,  Pall-Mall,  London,  I 
received  the  news  of  Canning's  death,  while  expecting  to  hear  that 
he  was  better.  Every  one  felt  that  mankind  had  lost  a  friend, 
and  every  face  was  saddened  by  the  news.     Four  lines  from  the 


"  GLOOMY  CIRCUMSTANCES."  399 

"Morning  Chronicle"  show  the  public  esteem  for  the  extraordi- 
nary man  who  had  preceded  Sir  Robert  Peel  in  his  politics,  by 
twenty  years.     The  lines  are  these : 

"  What  could  we  hope  in  other  years, 
If  the  longest  life  had  crowned  him? 
But  thus  to  die,  with  a  nation's  tears, 
And  a  world's  applause  around  him." 

From  Genoa  I  passed  through  Milan,  Geneva,  and  Lyons,  to 
Fontainbleau,  whither  my  wife  and  children  had  come  to  meet 
me,  and  where,  two  days  after  our  meeting,  the  sudden  death  of 
my  youngest  son  filled  up  the  measure  of  my  sorrows.  In  Lyons 
I  had  heard  of  the  reunion  of  the  Rothschilds  with  the  six  bankers, 
and  I  now  set  out  for  Paris,  almost  penniless,  without  employ- 
ment, without  any  views  for  the  future.  With  the  dead  body  of 
our  son,  we  rode  through  the  night  to  Paris.  The  funeral  over, 
I  took  rooms  for  a  few  weeks  in  the  country,  till  my  wife  could 
make  arrangements  to  quit  our  present  house,  lease  cheaper  apart- 
ments, and  narrow  her  ideas  of  housekeeping.  In  these  gloomy 
circumstances,  it  was  no  little  comfort  to  find  some  immediate 
employment.  If  old  business  relations  had  given  a  right  to 
friendship,  yet  my  army  contract  business  had  separated  me 
from  my  old  acquaintances,  and  I  had,  literally,  no  one  to  whom 
I  could  turn.  In  this  necessity,  my  friend  Delaroche  came  to  see 
me,  and  mentioned  the  transactions  of  the  business  of  the  "  Nu 
mismatic  Treasury,"  as  a  probable  means  of  gaining  my  bread. 

Of  this,  the  next  chapter  will  enlighten  the  reader. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

THE  INVENTION  OF  N.  COLLAS  AND  ITS  APPLICATION— 

The  Company  of  the  "  Trevor  de  Numismatique  et  de  Glyptique" — Its  first 
success  at  Paris — Effort  to  extend  it  in  England — Journey  to  London — Visit 
to  the  Cabinet  of  Medals,  in  the  British  Museum — Mr.  E.  Hawkins,  the 
■warden — Combination  of  his  project  for  a  numismatic  history  of  Great 
Britain  with  my  scheme — Attempted  conclusion  of  an  arrangement  with  the 
Trustees  of  the  museum,  in  consequence  of  an  understanding  with  the  book- 
seller Tilt — His  petition  to  the  House  of  Commons,  praying  parliamentary 
aid  in  support  of  our  project — The  subject  transferred  to  the  Commons' 
Committee  on  the  British  Museum — Hearing  of  witnesses  by  the  committee 
— Sir  Francis  Chantrey,  the  sculptor — Characteristic  anecdotes  of  that 
artist — Unworthy  opposition  to  my  plan  by  the  painter  Brockedon,  in 
combination  with  W.  Wyon,  the  coin  engraver,  and  others,  in  favor  of  the 
mathematical  instrument-maker,  Bates — The  committee  arrive  at  no  definite 
conclusion,  and  allow  the  examination  of  witnesses  to  drag  on — Uninter- 
rupted efforts  on  my  part  with  the  Trustees  of  the  museum  to  gain  my 
point — The  nature  of  my  propositions  meets  with  a  very  satisfactory  recep- 
tion on  their  part,  and  they  carry  the  cost  of  executing  my  plan  into  their 
budget — A  deficit  of  2,000,000  pounds  sterling,  in  the  general  national  Bud- 
get, compels  the  B>oyal  High  Chancellor  to  put  his  veto  on  this  new  appro- 
priation. 

A  mechanic  of  great  inventive  talent,  by  name  Nicholas  Collas, 
of  Paris,  was  ordered,  just  after  the  Revolution  of  1830,  by  a 
copper-plate  engraver,  in  Ghent,  to  make  a  machine,  already 
known  in  England  and  America,  for  ruling  or  stippling  straight  or 
curved  lines  on  steel  and  copper  plates.  This,  together  with  a 
recollection  of  Collard's  machine  for  stippling  dial-plates,  watch- 
cases,  snuff-boxes,  &c.,  called  "  tour  a  guillocher,"  a  full  drawing 
of  whicfc  will  be  found  in  Bergeron's  Manuel  des  Tourneurs,  1816, 
put  it  into  his  head  to  invent  a  process  by  which  medals,  bas-re- 
liefs, intaglios,  etc.,  might  be  engraved,  for  printing  on  steel  or 


A  NEW  INVENTION.  401 

copper.  After  five  tedious  months,  Collas  produced  his  first 
engraving  in  1831.  This  product  only  proved  the  possibility 
of  the  project.  The  rest  of  the  year  and  part  of  the  next  passed 
in  studying  to  perfect  the  machine.  At  last,  in  autumn,  1832,  he 
produced  some  copper-plate  engravings,  which  amazed  every  one 
by  their  correctness  and  their  almost  palpable  relief.  It  amazed 
Delaroche  and  myself.  We  had  to  touch  the  paper  and  look  at 
the  back  of  it  to  convince  ourselves  that  it  was  not  embossed. 
When  the  machine  was  perfected  and  its  results  evident,  it  struck 
Delaroche  and  myself  that  it  might  be  used  for  artistic  and  scien- 
tific purposes,  to  give  to  the  public  some  knowledge  of  certain 
private  treasures,  as  cabinets  of  medals,  which  are  usually  hidden 
in  colleges,  and  which  might  be  thus  cheaply  exhibited  to  the 
world.  At  last,  in  connection  with  M.  Lachevardiere — a  clever 
man  of  artistic  spirit  and  knowledge,  who  had  first  made  the 
French  acquainted  with  the  Penny  Magazine  by  his  Magasin 
Pittoresque — we  organized  a  society  of  shareholders,  to  whom 
Mr.  Collas  not  only  sold  his  patents,  but  took  the  oversight 
and  direction  of  the  machines.  A  share  of  the  Magasin  Pitto- 
resque, at  first  but  500  francs,  rose  the  second  year  to  1500 
francs.  Our  society  was  called  "  Tresor  de  Numismatique  et  de 
Glyptique ;"  its  capital,  50,000  francs,  was  divided  into  fifty 
shares,  of  1000  each,  whereof  I  took  fifty,  Delaroche,  Lachevar- 
diere, and  their  friends,  taking  the  rest.  A  year  passed  in  copy- 
ing the  rarest  medals,  bas-reliefs,  intaglios,  etc.  Toward  the  close 
of  1833  appeared  some  numbers  of  the  publication,  at  the  low 
price  of  5  francs  for  five  folio  sheets,  with  texts  from  the  most 
learned  in  France  in  numismatic  and  glyptic  matters.  The  gov- 
ernment was  asked  for  support,  and,  on  the  report  of  a  person 
named  to  investigate  the  matter,  such  support  was  promised.  The 
Minister  of  the  Interior  subscribed  for  100  copies.  His  Majesty, 
Louis  Philippe,  always  a  friend  and  patron  of  art ;  the  dukes  of 
Orleans  and  Nemours;  all  the  princesses  ;  the  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction  ;  the  Chamber  of  Peers  ;  the  Royal  Cabinet  of  medals 
and  antiques ;  the  Directors  of  the  mint ;  indeed,  all  who  were 
known  as  patrons  of  art,  not  only  in  France  but  in  Germany  and 
Holland,  were  down  upon  th*  list  of  subscribers.     In  England 


402  VISIT  TO  LONDON. 

only  was  it  received  with  indifference  and  but  little  known.  The 
newness  of  the  copper-plate  had  excited  attention,  but  the  actual 
service  of  the  work  seemed  to  the  British  Art-world  only  a  proof 
of  the  progress  of  the  graver.  It  is  not  to  be  gainsayed  that,  for 
correctness  and  cheapness,  this  work  would  have  been  of  the 
greatest  use,  and  would  have  been  very  popular  too,  if  numisma- 
tic or  glyptic  studies  were  more  common  among  the  practical 
people  of  Great  Britain.  But  only  by  the  clear  art-spirit  of  a 
capital  like  Paris,  the  home  of  intelligence  and  feeling  for  art,  and 
by  the  artistic  knowledge  of  Germany,  her  only  central  point  and 
home  of  unity,  could  this  invention  take  its  proper  rank  among 
useful  arts.  Nothing  would  put  back  a  discovery  like  the  electric 
telegraph,  which  appeals  to  all ;  but  a  true  artist-spirit  and  appre- 
ciation of  a  discovery  connected  with  art  alone,  exist  only  in 
France  and  Germany.  I  have  seen  the  truth  of  this  remark 
proved  in  later  years ;  but  it  now  appeared  to  us  that  the  luke- 
warmness  of  the  British  public  toward  our  work,  could  only  be 
attributed  to  the  want  of  knowledge  of  its  existence,  and  to  the 
laziness  of  the  French  booksellers  in  London.  I  told  Delaroche 
that  an  agent  to  bring  it  before  the  upper  classes  in  England 
could  not  fail.  Lord  Francis  Egerton,  now  Earl  of  Ellesmere, 
had  seen  the  first  number  at  Delaroche's,  had  been  greatly  struck 
with  it,  and  had  not  only  subscribed,  but  had  promised  it  his 
patronage.  This  appeared  to  me  to  be  an  English  port  wherein 
our  bark  could  find  good  anchorage,  and  our  work  be  widely  scat- 
tered through  the  country.  I,  therefore,  determined,  as  my  mite 
toward  the  undertaking,  to  go  to  England ;  for,  look  where  I 
would,  I  found  nothing  else  that  offered  me  the  means  of  liveli- 
hood. I  took  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Delaroche  to  Lord 
Egerton,  and  left  Paris  with  twenty  pounds  in  my  pocket. 

One  of  my  first  visits  in  London  was  to  the  coin  and  medal- 
cabinet  of  the  British  Museum,  which  contains  some  90,000  speci- 
mens. Then  I  learned  there  was  a  perfect  collection  of  all  medals 
struck  in  honor  of  the  men,  or  in  illustration  of  the  history,  of 
the  country,  and  that  the  dies  were  broken.  The  idea  struck 
me  to  get  up  a  medallion  history  of  England,  and  to  make  use  of 
the  3000  specimens  in  the  miseum  therefor*     The  proper  person 


LORD  ABERDEEN.  403 

to  be  addressed  was  Mr.  Edward  Hawkins,  overseer  of  the  Cabi 
net  of  Medals,  a  man  whose  reputation  for  uprightness  was  no  less 
than  for  talent  and  learning,  in  which  he  took  first  rank,  and  who  for 
many  years  had  been  engaged  upon  a  work  of  this  kind.  I  was  in- 
troduced to  him,  and  was  lucky  enough  to  gain  his  good  will.  He 
had  examined  with  visible  pleasure  the  proofs  of  our  machine,  and 
now  hoped  for  the  first  time  that  his  work  might  be  finished,  so 
long  delayed  by  the  enormous  cost  of  engraving  the  medals  upon 
copper  or  steel. 

After  the  groundwork  of  the  work  was  settled  upon,  the  next 
thing  needed  was  a  publisher.  But  the  London  booksellers  whom 
I  knew — Murray,  Byron's  publisher :  Longman,  Rees,  Brown  & 
Co. ;  Pickering  and  others,  would  not  listen  to  me.  The  difficulty 
of  the  project  was  the  first  objection  ;  the  indifference  of  the  British 
public  to  works  of  this  nature,  the  second.  I  now  presented  my 
letter  of  introduction  to  Lord  Egerton ;  he  took  it  and  promised 
his  help  to  my  undertaking,  towards  which  he  gave  me  a  particu- 
lar letter  of  recommendation  to  his  friend,  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen, 
an  important  member  of  British  Museum  Committee  on  Antiques. 
The  cabinet  of  medals  was  in  this  department. 

I  had  heard  much  of  Lord  Aberdeen.  One  of  my  friends  who 
had  often  met  him,  described  him  as  the  haughtiest  and  most  re- 
served of  all  tories,  from  whom  I  might  scarcely  expect  a  polite 
word.  I  determined  to  send  my  letter  to  his  residence,  Argyle 
House,  with  a  request  that  he  would  name  a  day  and  hour  to 
receive  me.  A  polite  note  gave  the  information,  and  I  called  upon 
him.  I  found  a  cold,  serious,  but  yet  gentle  man,  who  gave 
me  a  chair  in  a  very  courtly  way,  and  inquired  in  what  he  could 
serve  me.  I  stated  my  project  as  briskly  and  clearly  as  possible, 
the  only  way  with  the  practical  business-like  Englishman,  and 
found  it  received  even  with  a  sort  of  warmth.  He  promised  a 
couple  of  letters  to  other  members  of  the  Museum  Committee, 
and  said  that  he  would  give  me  all  possible  aid.  When  I  received 
these  letters,  I  found  a  couple  of  lines  from  Lord  Aberdeen,  very 
pressing  lines,  to  Lord  Ashburton,  who  was  an  important  member 
of  the  Committee.  On  the  visit  which  I  paid  to  this  old  friend 
and  patron,  I  did  not  send  up  my  name,  but  told  the  servant  to 


404  SIR  FRANCIS  CHANTREY. 

announce  a  gentleman  who  brought  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
Lord  Aberdeen.     At   my  entrance   he  was  doubly  astonished, 
first  to  see  me,  and  then  to  learn  my  business,  so  widely  different 
from  that  in  which  we  had  been  engaged  together.     He  heard  the 
story  of  my  last  five  years,  and  promised  to  do  what  he  could 
for  my  project  when  it  should  come  before  the  committee.     Once 
assured  of  the  help  of  the  Museum  Committee,  it  became  an 
easier  matter  to  find  a  publisher  for  a  Medal  History  of  England 
I  found  Charles  Tilt  already  well  known  for  the  beauty  of  his  art 
publications.    The  plan  was  laid  before  the  Trustees,  who  through 
pure  ignorance  of  what  it  all  meant,  laid  it  for  the  time  aside. 
Fortunately  for  me,  there  was  a  daily  committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons  busied  with  an  examination  into  the  affairs  of  the 
Museum,  and  when  the   Trustees'  decision  was  made   known, 
it  was  hinted  to  me  that  I  would  do  far  better  with  the  Parlia- 
mentary Committee.     This  could  only  be  done  by  petition  to  the 
House,  and  Mr.  Tilt  willingly  sent  in  such  petition,  craving  an 
examination  into  the  whole  thing.     As  luck  would  have  it,  I  had 
many  acquaintances  among  the  members,  and  I  spared  no  trouble 
in  seeking  them  out,  and  trying  to  interest  them  in  my  scheme. 
At  last  my  desires  were  fulfilled,  but  a  rew  difficulty  arose. 
Many  of  the  members  of  the  Committee  heU  that  they  had  no 
right  to  do  anything  with   the  petition.     Even   Mr.   Hawkins 
thought  it  probable  that  they  would  not  touch  it.     But  several 
of  them  interested  themselves  for  me;  as  B.  Hawes,  W.    B. 
Baring  (now  Lord  Ashburton)  Thomas  Thorn ely,     and    Lord 
Stanley,  now  Earl  of  Derby,  to  whom  I  was  presented  by  my 
friend  Adam  Hodgson  of  Liverpool,  who  had  married  one  of  his 
cousins.     I  labored  with  these  gentlemen,  until  we  obtained  a 
resolution  to  examine  this  new  method  of  engraving.     Mr.  Haw- 
kins could  scarcely  believe  his  eyes  when  he  received  a  request 
to  present  himself  before  the  committee  on  June  14,  1836.     Sir 
Erancis  Chantrey,  to  whom  Lord  Egerton  had  introduced  me, 
came  also  and  warmly  promoted  my  cause. 

It  is  well  known,  that  since  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  none  have 
reached  such  excellence  in  portrait  sculpture,  busts,  as  Chantrey, 
and,  since  his  death,  no  one  has  taken  his  place.     He  knew  his 


HIS  BUST  OF  TOOKE.  405 

countrymen  well,  and  that  in  painting  and  sculpture  they  parti- 
cularly encouraged  the  portrait.  "  'T  is  the  most  money-making 
part  of  my  business,"  he  said  to  me  once,  as  I  wondered  that 
the  sculptor  of  the  Children  in  Litchfield  Cathedral,  could  stick  to 
bust-making,  which  required  no  inspiration.  He  said  he  could 
not  live  by  his  chisel  without  it.  He  was  a  farmer's  son,  and 
had  studied  painting  in  his  youth,  but  with  no  great  success.  At 
a  family  feast,  where  his  mother  wished  to  regale  her  guests  with 
a  pasty,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  moulding  a  hen  in  dough,  and 
putting  it  on  the  top  of  the  pasty.  This  hen  was  his  golden  egg- 
laying  goose,  for  it  commenced  that  fortune  which  grew  before 
his  death  to  £15,000  per  annum.  The  fowl  was  so  exquisitely 
natural,  that  the.  fame  of  it  spread  far  and  wide,  and  Chantrey, 
after  several  other  attempts,  recognized  his  proper  vocation  to  be 
that  of  a  sculptor,  and  went  to  London.  Here  he  earned  a  poor 
livelihood  by  portrait  painting,  and  at  last  saved  enough  to  pro- 
cure a  little  sculptor's  studio.  He  then  went  to  the  celebrated 
Home  Tooke,  who  had  broken  a  stout  lance  with  Junius,  and  had 
been  prosecuted  by  Pitt  as  a  demagogue  and  public  disturber,  and 
obtained  from  him  several  sittings.  When  the  bust  was  finished, 
Chantrey  had  not  money  enough  to  cast  it  in  plaster ;  but  he  got 
it  at  last,  and  took  the  bust  to  the  sculptor  Nollekens,  at  time 
at  the  head  of  the  art  world  in  London.  He  was  too  late,  how 
ever,  for  the  exhibition.  Though  a  man  of  cool  phlegmatic  tem- 
perament, Chantrey  was  "  cruelly  disappointed."  "  Let  us  see 
what  you  have  here,"  said  Nollekens,  and  Chantrey  uncovered 
the  bust.  At  the  first  glance,  Nollekens  started  with  amazement. 
"  What !"  he  cried,  "  is  that  your  first  work  V  Scarcely  had 
Chantrey  said  yes,  when  he  added,  "  Well,  it  is  too  perfect  to  be 
kept  from  the  public,"  and  though  the  exhibition  was  full,  Nolle- 
kens took  back  one  of  his  own  works,  and  placed  the  ticket  upon 
Tooke's  bust  and  the  best  in  the  exhibition.  The  consequences 
were  unexampled,  but  well  merited.  I  have  seen  it  fifty  times, 
and  always  with  fresh  pleasure ;  for  it  bore  the  unmistakable  stamp 
of  Truth,  and  to  all  who  had  seen  Tooke  or  not,  it  appeared  like  a 
living  being,  who  would  answer  if  addressed.  Before  the  forty  days 
of  exhibition  were  over,  Chantrey  told  me  he  had  received  orders 


406  HIS  EMINENT  SUCCESS. 

for  £5,000  worth  of  busts.  His  reputation  and  his  fortune  were 
made.  The  plaster  gallery  of  his  busts,  in  his  own  studio,  can 
not  be  looked  upon  without  astonishment.  The  life-likeness 
which  was  the  great  merit  of  Tooke's  bust,  is  found  in  all,  and  all 
exhibit  the  character  as  well  as  the  physical  appearance  of  the 
originals.  Chantrey  surpassed  the  great  Sir  Joshua,  as  well  as 
Lawrence,  and  all  other  English  portrait  takers,  in  presenting  the 
exact  likeness  of  the  sitter,  and  his  peculiar  method  of  modelling 
a  head  was  the  best  proof  of  his  cleverness  as  artist.  He  did  not 
keep  his  sitter  in  one  position ;  but  after  a  short  study  of  his  head, 
features,  and  manner,  he  allowed  him  to  move  about  and  converse 
naturally.  One  day  in  his  gallery  of  busts,  he  asked  me  if  I 
would  like  to  see  his  two  finest  heads,  and  to  my  affirmative  reply, 
he  said,  "  Here  they  are !"  pointing  to  George  IV.,  and  the  Mar- 
quis of  Westminster.  "  I  have  bothered  myself  but  little,"  he 
said,  "  about  Gall  and  Spurzheim,  although  there  is  much  truth 
in  their  observations.  In  these  two  heads  the  organ  of  pride  is 
the  same,  and  cannot  fail  to  be  recognized."  Another  day  I  asked 
him  whether  his  long  practice  had  not  shown  him  that  the  eyes 
of  very  reflective  people  were  deeply  sunk,  while  those  of  persons 
whose  thoughts  were  more  open  and  public,  were  prominent.  I 
gave  this  as  the  result  of  my  own  observation,  without  any  refer- 
ence to  the  fact  that  his  own  eyes  were  deep  sunk.  "  Will  my 
decision,"  said  he,  "  confirm  your  own  observation  V  "  No,"  I  said, 
"  but  the  resemblance  of  our  views  would  please  me,  who  have 
seen  and  looked  sharply  at  so  many  clever  great  men."  "  Well," 
he  said,  "  there  is  much  truth  in  your  observation ;  but,  as  a  rule, 
it  is  full  of  exceptions :  for  instance,  look  at  me.  What  do  I  look 
like  1  Why,  like  an  honest,  dull-headed,  perhaps  stupid,  English- 
man, but  I  am  not  a  fool  for  all  that."  This  way  of  speaking, 
gave  his  conversation  much  liveliness,  and  I  was  very  fond  of  his 
society.  The  son  of  a  small  farmer,  his  education  had  not  been 
remarkable.  Now,  however,  his  rapid  rise  had  made  necessary 
correspondence  with  great  and  highly  educated  men,  as  well  as 
official  communications  to  the  government.  To  avoid  error,  he 
had  taken  the  well-instructed  Scottish  poet  Allan  Cunningham  for 
secretary,  and,  at  a  good  salary,  committed  to  him  his  correspond- 


HIS  INFLUENCE.  40 f 

enoe  and  his  books.  I  was  induced  to  believe  that  Chantrey  had 
not  only  learned  good  grammar  from  his  amanuensis,  but  also  a 
better  hand-writing,  for  I  possess  the  hand-writing  of  both,  and 
the  resemblance  between  them  is  striking. 

Chantrey  was  supreme  authority  in  all  governmental  sculpture. 
Nothing  could  be  done  without  him.  As  the  bronze  equestrian 
statue  of  Charles  II.  had  been  observed  to  shake,  on  stormy  days, 
upon  its  pedestal,  Sir  Francis  was  requested  to  examine  it,  and 
report.  The  English  are  as  fond  of  reports  as  the  Austrians. 
The  statue  had  been  fastened  with  iron  nails,  which  the  rust  had 
turned  to  dust,  so  that  its  weight  alone  kept  it  steady.  "  Any 
blockhead  might  have  told  them,"  said  Chantrey,  "  that  brass  fas- 
tenings were  the  only  things  that  would  do  for  the  future — there 
was  no  need  to  bother  me  about  the  matter."  In  his  verbal 
reports,  however,  some  of  which  I  heard,  to  government  commit- 
tees, Sir  Francis  never  failed  to  make  the  best  of  the  matter ; 
dwelling  with  great  gravity  on  the  points  in  which  he  had  moved. 
He  liked  his  authority  as  Sir  Oracle,  and  when  I  would  laugh,  he 
would  look  grave  until  the  committee  had  gone,  and  then  say, 
with  a  smile,  "  It  will  not  do  to  trifle  with  these  gentlemen." 

I  saw  his  influence,  and  wanted  his  testimony  before  a  commit- 
tee of  the  House.  He  did  not  at  first  seem  very  willing,  but  I 
pressed  the  matter,  speaking  of  the  pleasure  it  would  give  Lord 
Francis  Egerton,  to  see  his  taste  for  foreign  art  aided,  and  at  last 
got  from  him  his  promise  to  come  and  testify. 

When  he  came  into  the  room,  every  one  rose  respectfully,  and 
shook  hands  with  him.  All  over  London,  particularly  in  the 
world  of  art,  much  had  been  said  about  the  copper-plates  of  our 
Tresor  de  Numismatique  et  de  Glyptique,  particularly  the  word 
"distortion"  had  been  freely  used,  and  that  the  figures  were 
untrue.  The  director  of  the  Cabinet  of  Medals,  Mr.  Hawkins,  was 
examined  after  Sir  Francis.  To  the  question,  whether  these  engrav- 
ings by  the  machine  of  M.  Collas  were  wanting  in  correctness,  and 
whether  the  eye  of  an  artist  could  perceive  the  distortion,  even  if 
invisible  to  ordinary  eyes,  Sir  Francis  answered  as  follows : — 

No.  5653. —  Q.  "  You  believe  that  this  lack  of  correctness  does 
not  injure  this  as  a  work  of  art  ?"     A.  "  I  r;ever  noticed  this  slight 


408  NEW  COMPETITORS. 

incorrectness  until  it  was  pointed  out  to  me,  and  then  it  seemed 
of  very  little  importance."  (Remember  that  the  first  sculptor  in 
England  is  speaking.)  "  And  these  representations  of  medals  are 
the  best  I  have  hitherto  seen ;  better  than  the  ordinary  copper- 
plates after  drawings." 

No.  5658. —  Q.  "  Do  these  plates  please  you  as  works  of  art  ?" 
A.  "  Perfectly.     They  answer  every  purpose  of  art." 

No.  5660. —  Q.  "  This  incorrectness,  then,  is  not  so  great  as  to 
amount  to  distortion  or  any  other  visible  defect  V  A.  "  It  pro- 
duced no  unpleasant  effect  upon  me ;  nor  did  I  remark  it  until  it 
was  pointed  out  to  me." 

No.  5799. —  Q.  "Would  you,  being  in  possession  of  one  of 
these  representations,  consider  yourself  in  possession  of  a  copy,  or 
its  equivalent,  of  the  medal  $M  A.  "  That  would  be  my  feeling, 
as  artist." 

Nos.  5801,  5802.— " Here,"  said  Sir  Francis,  "the  word  dis- 
tortion is  improper.  Distortion  is  too  strong  and  signifies  a  great 
want  of  truthfulness,  not  the  case  with  these  plates." 

Mr.  Hawkins  spoke  in  the  same  way ;  and  the  testimony  of 
these  two  gentlemen  had  so  much  influence  with  the  committee, 
that  they  promised  me  to  speak  well  of  the  undertaking,  and  even 
more.  But  this  hope  vanished  all  too  soon.  Two  days  after  the 
examination,  I  heard  that  Wm.  Wyon,  seal  and  die  maker  to  the 
royal  mint,  and  Wm.  Brockeden,  an  unfortunate  historical  painter, 
had  determined  to  inquire  into  the  matter  closely ;  because  they 
desired  to  give  all  their  influence  to  a  Mr.  John  Bates,  a  machinist, 
in  London,  who  four  years  ago  had  obtained  patents  for  various 
improvements  in  line  engraving,  but  whose  indolence  had  kept 
him  slumbering  all  this  time.  I  had  heard  little  of  him  before, 
except  from  everybody,  even  Mr.  Wyon  himself,  that  his  laziness 
would  prevent  his  ever  completing  his  invention.  At  last  the 
committee  determined  to  hear  Messrs.  Wyon  and  Brockeden,  on  the 
24th  of  June,  when  they  appeared,  with  Mr.  John  Henning,  sen., 
an  old  Scottish  sculptor,  and  Mr.  Doubleday,  a  voluntary  aid  in 
the  British  Museum.  The  tendency  of  this  examination  was  evi- 
dent— the  failure  of  the  project  for  which  I  had  so  striven,  the 
object  of  this  unworthy  combination,  at  the  head  of  which  was 


THEIR  OPPOSITION.  409 

Mr.  Brockeden,  an  old  and  interested  intriguer.  I  have  already 
said  that  Brockeden  commenced  in  the  world  of  art  as  historical 
painter.  At  his  first  exhibition  he  was  greeted  with  universal 
reprobation,  from  which  he  never  recovered,  because  criticism 
could  not  correct  nor  lessen  his  self-conceit.  His  want  of  success 
induced  him  to  make  and  describe  an  Alpine  journey,  and  in 
union  with  Finden,  Heath,  and  others,  to  publish  the  Keepsake, 
which  had  so  long  and  indescribable  success.  It  was  the  golden 
age  of  mediocre  productions,  and  Brockeden  gained  abundantly 
thereby.  As  compensation  for  his  failure  as  historical  painter,  he 
had  found  a  place  as  Mecaenas  of  art  and  patron  of  invention.  His 
universal  genius  was  equally  at  home  in  the  perfection  of  litho- 
graphy, and  in  the  invention  of  India-rubber  corks ;  and  he  under- 
took everything  that  seemed  likely  to  pay — which,  indeed,  was 
the  cause  of  his  interference  now.  For  the  reader  will  understand 
that  neither  Brockeden  nor  Wyon  had  been  invited  by  the  com- 
mittee, but  that  they  had  insisted  on  being  heard.  The  whole 
cause  of  the  opposition  was  Brockeden's  private  interest ;  he  hav- 
ing listened  to  a  conversation  between  Mr.  Wyon  and  myself,  on 
occasion  of  a  visit  paid  by  me  to  the  mint.  Without  having  any 
previous  acquaintance  with  me,  he  broke  into  the  conversation,  by 
asking,  "  What  will  your  copper-plates  cost1?"  Mr.  Wyon  saw 
the  impoliteness,  and  after  he  had  introduced  his  friend,  I  observed 
to  the  latter,  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  our  conversation. 
This  interview  had  no  positive  evident  result.  Mr.  Wyon  asked 
time  for  reflection  ;  said  that  he  would  in  no  wise  oppose  me,  but 
that,  perhaps,  I  had  better  not  call  on  him  to  testify  about  the 
lack  of  correctness  in  the  drawings.  I  then  said,  that  I  preferred 
to  have  his  name.  He  replied,  that  he  would  advise  with  only 
one  person  in  the  matter,  namely,  Mr.  Hawkins,  who  was  daily 
expected  from  Paris  ;  and  that  he  would  determine  so  soon  as  he 
had  spoken  to  that  gentleman.  Soon  after,  Mr.  Hawkins  told  me 
that  the  interview  had  taken  place,  but  without  result,  as  neither 
could  convert  the  other  to  his  views.  Then  I  determined  to  leave 
Mr.  Wyon  in  peace.  He  had  voluntarily  promised  not  to  oppose 
me ;  but  at  his  first  examination,  I  saw  the  worthlessness  of  his 
promise.     On  the  second   day  after,  I  heard   that  Wyon  and 

18 


410  CLOUDS  ARE  GATHERING. 

Brockeden  had  obtained  great  interest,  for  the  destruction  of  my 
project,  and  were  likely  to  reap  where  I  had  sowed.  The  ground 
of  the  opposition  was  the  imperfectness  of  our  machine ;  and 
although  these  gentlemen  had  never  seen  one,  they  still  held 
themselves  clever  enough  to  decide,  that  the  productions  of  such 
a  thing  must  be  distorted.  Here  was  the  great  difficulty  in  my 
way,  and  in  the  way  of  Collas's  machine.  For  if  the  committee 
were  convinced  that  it  could  not  produce  correct  engravings,  the 
scheme  was  ruined.  I  begged  permission  to  produce  other  wit- 
nesses ;  which  was  at  once  granted,  with  a  kindness  not  to  be  for- 
gotten by  a  stranger,  whose  plans  were  thus  about  to  be  destroyed. 
On  the  12th  of  July  appeared  before  the  committee  the  eminent 
medalist  of  the  Royal  Mint,  M.  Benedetto  Pistrucci,  and  the  great 
cameo  cutter,  Wilson.  The  former  said,  that  so  far  from  distort- 
ing, the  machine  w.ould  give  a  better  idea  than  even  a  medal  or 
cameo ;  as  it  would  furnish,  not  a  vertical  but  an  oblique  view, 
rendering  the  light  clearer  and  the  shadow  deeper.  The  mathe- 
matical correctness  given  by  the  vertical  view  of  a  medal,  proves 
by  the  measure,  from  the  centre  to  the  rim,  that  the  effect  is  given 
by  the  engraving  as  perfectly  as  by  the  medal  itself.  "The 
engravings,"  he  said,  "were  of  no  value  to  the  medalist.  He 
wanted  nothing  but  correctness  of  contour;  but  for  the  public,  for 
all  others,  these  were  far  more  useful  and  valuable." 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  committee  could  come  to  no 
resolution.  They  called  no  more  testimony,  and  allowed  their 
report  to  remain  unreported.  My  opponents  had  not  won,  but 
they  kept  me  out  of  the  reward  of  my  services.  Fate  had  dealt 
hardly  with  me,  but  yet  kept  a  crueller  trick  in  store.  I  had  now 
to  reflect  on  the  end  of  my  mercantile  career  in  the  United  States, 
in  1826 ;  on  the  end  of  my  contractorship  in  1834 ;  and  now,  on 
the  destruction  of  a  reasonable  hope,  and  an  almost  executed 
plan.     The  motto  of  my  book  was  always  present  to  me — 

"  There  are  wanderers  o'er  eternity, 
Whose  bark  floats  on,  and  anchored 
Never  shall  be." 

yet  I  did  not  let  my  courage  fail.     The  German  proverb  says, 


JAMES  BOGARDUS.  4.11 

"  Will  is  power."  Napoleon  says,  "The  word  impossible  is  not  in 
my  dictionary."  This,  thank  God,  has  always  upheld  me.  This 
time  a  lucky  accident  helped  me. 

Mr.  Brockeden  had,  in  his  determination  to  ruin  me,  and 
advance  the  cause  of  Mr.  Bates,  written  an  article  in  the  Literary 
Gazette.  Fancying  himself  a  linguist,  and  wishing  to  speak  of 
the  "procede  de  Collas"  (Collas's  process),  he  always  wrote  "pro- 
ces  de  Collas,  (Collas's  lawsuit.)  He  knew  me  to  be  an  Ameri- 
can citizen,  as  I  had  been  for  thirty  years,  and  his  wit  described 
me  as  the  American  owner  of  a  French  invention  ;  while  he  con- 
sidered me  as  very  wicked,  in  desiring  to  rob  a  celebrated  Eng- 
lish engineer  of  his  invention.  This  article  fell  into  the  hands  of  a 
native  American,  resident  in  London,  and  awakened  his  patriotism 
in  my  behalf.  It  was  the  then  well-known,  and  since  renowned 
civil  engineer,  James  Bogardus,  of  New  York.  Inventor  of  the 
gas-metre,  he  had  employed  another  American  to  come  to  Eng- 
land, and  sell  the  patent.  This  unworthy  villain  sold  everything 
to  a  speculator,  for  £1000,  who  sold  it  to  all  the  gas  companies 
for  £10,000,  and  when  Bogardus  came  on,  he  gained  £800  only. 
Bogardus,  who  had  made  ruling  machines  for  the  great  paper 
manufacturers  in  New  York,  and  knew  of  the  medal  machine, 
knew  also  the  power  of  Bates'  machine.  Saxton,  the  bank-note 
engraver,  in  Philadelphia,  and  others,  had  already  found  out 
Bates'  machine,  although  they  could  not  prevent  his  getting  a 
patent.  Mr.  Saxton,  in  a  letter  of  May  6,  1836,  gave  me  all  the 
particulars  of  this.  Bogardus  offered  his  help  to  make  me  a  per- 
fect machine  in  a  few  weeks.  He  did  so,  and  our  work  was  so 
perfect,  in  effect  of  light  and  shade,  as  to  give  all  that  was  want- 
ing to  the  production  of  Collas's  invention. 

As  my  readers  cannot  be  interested  in  this  systematic  and 
methodic  persecution  of  my  opponents,  I  will  content  myself  with 
setting  down  one  anecdote. 

Mr.  Bates  sent  copperplates  to  all  the  officers  of  the  Museum, 
with  circulars,  stating  that  these  had  no  distortions  like  the 
French  machine.  In  every  window  you  saw  the  head  of  the  Ari- 
adne from  the  cameo,  labelled,  "By  Mr.  Bates'  Machine;"  and 
an  abominable  distortion,  labelled,  "  By   the  French  Machine." 


412  HENRY  HOPE,  ESQ. 

Finally,  Mr.  Bates  introduced  the  engraver,  Frcebairn,  to  the 
bookseller,  Herring,  four  years  after  his  machine  had  ceased  to  be 
known  by  anybody.  I  had  the  Canterbury  Pilgrimage,  by  Her- 
ring, engraved  by  our  machine  in  Paris,  for  Herring,  and  fifteen 
hundred  copies  were  sold  in  one  week.  I  wTas  still  in  treaty  with 
Mr.  Herring,  when  Mr.  Freebairn  was  endeavoring  to  convince 
him  that  all  the  productions  of  the  French  machine  were  dis- 
tortions. 

All  was  ready  to  go  on  with  our  arrangement,  and  to  make  the 
productions  of  the  Collas  machine  as  popular  as  possible.  The 
London  Literary  Gazette,  which  had  thoroughly  taken  sides  with 
Mr.  Bates,  published  Feb.  11, 1847,  an  article  by  Mr.  Brockeden, 
containing  a  letter  from  Mr.  Bates,  in  which  he  excuses  himself 
for  mingling  in  my  plans.  "  For  more  than  four  years,"  said  he, 
"  at  the  time  that  I  discovered  the  correct  machine,  I  had  the 
Museum  medals  in  view.  I  had  made  my  application  to  the 
Trustees,  but  they  paid  no  attention  to  it.  I  was  perhaps  too 
modest,  and  did  not  possess  the  advantage  of  being  a  foreigner." 
Every  one  knew  that  nothing  more  would  have  been  heard  of  Bates, 
had  Brockeden  not  discovered  that  his  machine  might  be  made 
valuable.  This  interference  with  me  was  perfectly  voluntary ; 
Mr.  Wyon's  opposition  was  a  breach  of  promise,  and  the  means 
adopted  were  unworthy  of  honorable  men.  I  was  fortunate 
enough,  with  the  approbation  of  the  first  men  and  friends  of  art 
in  England,  to  expose  these  unworthy  intrigues,  in  my  "  Memo- 
rial of  Facts  connected  with  the  History  of  Medallic  Engraving, 
and  the  process  of  A.  Collas,"  in  Charles  Tilt's  superb  work, 
"  The  Authors  of  England."  The  present  possessor  of  the  mag- 
nificent seat  "  Deepdene,"  Henry  Hope,  Esq.,  whose  collection 
of  jewels  in  the  London  Crystal  Palace  excited  so  much  attention, 
and  who  is  the  son  of  the  late  H.  T.  Hope,  named  in  the  second 
chapter,  after  reading  this  memorial,  wrote  to  me  as  follows : — ■ 
"  I  never  until  now  studied  the  details  of  your  struggle;  but,  after 
a  careful  analysis  of  your  exposition,  I  must  say  that  you  excel, 
not  only  by  the  favorable  artistic  testimony,  and  the  clear  logic 
of  your  argumentation,  but  by  the  rare  beauty  of  your  copper- 
plates." 


LORD  ABERDEEN.  413 

Before  I  returned  to  Paris,  I  sent  a  small  collection  of  engra- 
vings, by  Bogardus's  machine,  to  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  who  had 
so  helped  me  in  my  project.  The  answer  of  this  gentleman — 
never  properly  estimated  during  his  long  life — ought  not  to  be 
uninteresting  to  the  reader,  now  that  he  has  probably  succeeded 
in  closing  forevei  the  Temple  of  Janus,  between  the  warring 
Whigs  and  Tories,  and  perfected  the  union  of  the  parties.  It  is 
as  follows : 

"  Argyle  House,  Aug.  2,  1833. 
Sir — I  beg  to  express  my  acknowledgments  for  the  very  beau- 
tiful specimens  of  engraving,  by  your  machine,  which  you  have 
had  the  goodness  to  send  me.  It  would  appear  that  the  art  had 
now  arrived  at  a  degree  of  perfection  which  is  not  likely  to  be 
surpassed. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir, 

Your  very  ob't.  humble  servant, 

ABERDEEN. 
Mr.  V.  Nolte. 
I  inclose  the  order  for  the  House  of  Lords." 

I  must  confess  my  vanity,  and  frankly  declare  that  my  recep- 
tion by  this  high  Tory  is  one  of  the  most  pleasing  recollections  of 
my  life.  What  I  had  to  say  to  him  about  the  Museum  business 
was  soon  over ;  but  when  I  took  my  hat  to  go,  he  begged  me  to 
remain,  and  answer  a  few  other  questions,  about  matters  gene- 
rally in  France.  This  was  particularly  the  case  when  I  returned 
from  Paris  in  1837. 

The  whole  course  of  the  Brockeden  clique  had  made  a  bad 
impression  upon  all  right-minded  Englishmen,  especially  of  the 
higher  classes.  Honorable  feeling  induced  them  to  examine  my 
project,  and  after  conviction  of  its  usefulness,  to  support  it ;  yet 
there  still  existed  a  fear  of  showing  to  the  masses  a  support  for  a 
foreign  combination,  which  they  might  be  refusing  to  their  own 
equally  deserving  countrymen.  Even  if  cheapness,  rapidity,  and 
the  excellence  of  the  engraving  could  be  shown  to  be  on  our  side, 
yet  the  success  of  the  strangers  would  be  placed  in  its  worst  pos- 
sible light  by  the  other  party.     This  feeling  existed  also  among 


4H  FAILURE  OF  THE  PROJECT. 

the  trustees  of  the  Museum,  and  it  was  essential  to  show  to  the 
public,  that  the  debate  was  not  between  native  and  foreigner,  but 
about  the  relative  merits  of  the  two  machines.  To  bring  this 
about,  I  placed  before  the  trustees,  through  the  medium  of  Mr. 
Hawkins,  some  twelve  or  eighteen  engravings,  from  the  most  dif- 
ficult medals,  proper  for  the  illustration  of  the  medallic  history 
written  by  Mr.  H.  ;  and  they  were  shown  by  him  to  be  the 
cheapest,  best,  and  most  rapidly  produced  possible  illustrations  for 
his  work.  The  trustees  were  pleased,  and,  to  my  no  small  joy, 
recommended  a  grant  from  the  treasury  of  £8000,  towards 
the  furtherance  of  the  plan  arranged  by  Mr.  Tilt  and  myself. 
This  was  to  be  laid  before  the  treasurer  by  Mr.  Spring  Rice,  now 
Lord  Monteagle.  The  customary  budget  of  the  trustees  had  for 
many  years  never  surpassed  £20,000 ;  this  year  it  rose  to  £28,000, 
and  the  warmest  recommendations  of  me,  by  the  trustees,  accom- 
panied it  to  the  treasury.  The  then  secretary  of  the  treasury  was 
Mr.  Francis  Thornhill  Baring,  eldest  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Baring, 
Bart.,  who  had  been  first  lord  of  the  admiralty,  under  Lord  John 
Russell's  administration,  and  who  succeeded  to  his  father's  title. 
It  was  one  of  the  Barings  whom  I  did  not  personally  know ;  but 
his  brother  Thomas,  now  as  then  one  of  the  heads  of  the  London 
firm,  had  given  me  a  letter  to  him.  On  my  second  visit,  he  said 
that  the  recommendation  of  the  trustees  would  cause  him  to  lay 
the  matter  before  the  Chancellor,  with  whom  the  final  power  of 
decision  rested.  "  Here,"  he  said,  taking  a  bundle  of  papers, 
"  here  is  my  report,  and  here  are  the  recommendations  of  the 
trustees.  Now  all  is  ready  for  the  decision  :  what  that  will  be  I 
cannot  guess  ;  it  depends  upon  the  money  to  spare." 

These  last  were  not  hopeful  words,  and  a  couple  of  weeks  later 
the  State  Budget  showed  a  deficit  of  £2,000,000.  I  saw  that  the 
matter  was  settled.  No  treasurer  could  consent  to  increase  that 
deficit  by  a  grant  of  £8,000  even  though  that  were  only  to  be 
paid  in  the  course  of  four  years. 

Mr.  Rice  informed  the  trustees  that  many  other  things  were 
pressing  upon  the  treasury  of  far  more  importance  than  a  "  Me- 
dallic History  of  England"  could  possibly  be.  All  was  over.  I 
bowed  before  the  bitter  fate  that,  after  two  and  a  half  years'  labor, 
thus  again  overwhelmed  me. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

QUEEN  VICTORIA— THE  QUEEN'S  BENCH-PRISON— THE 
QUEEN'S  CORONATION. 

Plan  to  strike  off  a  portrait-medal  of  the  queen — Sir  John  Conroy,  grand 
equerry  of  the  Duchess  of  Kent — His  resignation — The  Baroness  Lehzen, 
lady-secretary  to  the  queen,  who  procures  admission  for  myself  and  the 
sculptor  Weeks  to  Her  Majesty's  presence — The  result  of  this  audience 
— My  arrest  and  confinement  in  the  Queen's  Bench-prison,  in  consequence  of 
legal  proceedings  on  the  part  of  the  litigious  and  runaway  Duke  Charles  of 
Brunswick — My  liberation,  after  3£  months'  imprisonment — Unexpected 
arrival  of  my  wife — The  queen's  Coronation-day — The  simultaneous  ascent 
of  seven  air-balloons  from  Hyde  Park — Return  of  my  wife  to  Paris — My 
determination  to  revisit  the  United  States — Announcement  of  the  second 
trip  of  the  steamship  Great  Western  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean — Old  Admi- 
ral Coffin,  whom  I  meet  at  Leamington,  tries  to  dissuade  me  from  availing 
myself  of  this  opportunity  to  sail  for  New  York,  and  to  prove  the  insecu- 
rity of  ocean  steam-navigntion,  upon  nautical  grounds — Still,  I  sail  by  the 
steamer — Arrival  at  New  York,  after  an  uncommonly  stormy  passage  of 
eighteen  days. 

I  had  occupied  myself  about  a  medallion-portrait  of  Victoria, 
before  her  coming  to  the  throne.  Mr.  Henry  Weeks,  a  very 
worthy  young  artist,  pupil  and  right-hand  man  of  Sir  Francis 
Chantrey,  and  who  for  a  couple  of  years  had  made  most  of  the 
busts  and  statues  which  passed  for  Chantrey's,  wanted  to  make  a 
bust  of  her  future  majesty,  an  honor  which  I  resolved  to  procure 
for  him.  As  he  had  also  determined  to  make  her  medallion-like- 
ness for  me,  I  determined  to  address  Sir  John  Conroy,  Master  of 
Horse  and  Gentleman  of  Honor  to  the  Duchess  of  Kent,  with 
whom  he  had  great  influence.  Lord  Francis  Egerton,  with  his 
usual  kindness,  gave  me  a  note  of  introduction.  Sir  John  received 
me  politely,  but  with  a  reserve  that  showed  how  important  a 
member  of  the  household  he  esteemed  himself,  and  assured  me 


416  QUEEN   VICTORIA. 

graciously  that  he  would  represent  my  desires  to  her  Highness, 
and,  if  possible,  obtain  her  consent  that  her  daughter  should  sit  to 
Weeks  for  a  bust.  He  soon  informed  me  that  the  princess  was 
ready,  and  that  Mr.  Weeks  would  be  received  upon  a  certain  day. 
He  obtained  one  sitting  ;  but  then  King  William  became  seriously 
ill,  and  the  surgeons  pronounced  his  case  dangerous.  Further  sit- 
tings were  postponed.  I  bewailed  this  to  Sir  John,  observing  that, 
once  upon  the  throne,  the  princess  would  perhaps  be  unable  to 
give  any  more  sittings.  He  promised  to  speak  to  the  duchess, 
and  in  a  few  days  wrote  to  me  as  follows  : — 

Kensington  Palace,  June  17,  1837. 
Sir  John  Conroy  has  been  commanded  by  Her  Royal  Highness, 
the  Duchess  of  Kent,  that,  although  the  Princess  Victoria  cannot 
now  sit  to  Mr.  Weeks,  he  may  be  assured  of  future  sittings  from 
Her  Royal  Highness. 

King  William  IV.  died  on  June  20,  1837,  and  the  Princess 
Victoria  mounted  the  throne.  Not  long  after  the  Royal  Gazette 
contained  the  news  that  Sir  John  Conroy  no  longer  occupied 
the  post  of  Master  of  Horse  to  the  Duchess,  nor  any  other 
post  at  Court.  All  London  was  amazed.  Sir  John  had  been  a 
great  favorite  with  the  Duke  of  Kent,  and  with  his  widow,  the 
Duchess.  His  daughter,  who  was  born  about  the  same  time  with 
the  queen,  received  the  name  of  Victoria,  and  the  two  girls  had 
not  only  grown  up  together,  but  were  intimate  friends.  The 
cause  of  this  sudden  separation  and  of  Sir  John's  fall  remained 
unknown.  From  what  I  had  seen  of  Sir  John's  manner,  I  judged 
that  Victoria  had,  perhaps,  had  too  much  of  his  authority,  as  prin- 
cess, and  had  now  determined  to  get  rid  of  him,  and  not  to  allow 
him  any  longer  to  remain  in  her  mother's  household.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  young  queen  took  no  trouble  to  hide  her  impa- 
tience of  control,  as,  on  the  retirement  of  the  Melbourne  ministry, 
when  she  determined  to  keep  all  the  court  ladies  in  their  places, 
among  others,  the  Duchess  of  Sutherland.  This  was  an  innova- 
that  Lord  Melbourne's  successor,  Sir  Robert  Peel,  could  not  allow; 
but  the  queen  was  firm,  until  Lord  Melbourne,  the  British  states- 


WEEKS'  BUST  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA.  417 

man  best  instructed  in  constitutional  forms  and  uses,  undertook 
to  ameliorate  matters,  and,  if  possible,  to  bring  her  royal  majesty 
to  reason.  It  only  gave  another  proof  that  the  rulers  of  this 
world  are  not  always  compos  mentis. 

I  went  to  Sir  Henry  Wheatley,  the  new  private  secretary,  and 
showing  him  Sir  John  Conroy's  last  letter,  asked  his  advice.  He 
spoke  of  the  Baroness  Lehzen  as  the  most  proper  person  to  pro- 
cure a  continuation  of  the  sittings.  I  went  to  Windsor,  where 
the  baroness  was  with  the  queen,  was  announced,  politely  received, 
and  obtained  a  promise  that  all  should  go  well.  The  next  week  a 
day  was  appointed  for  Mr.  Weeks  to  renew  his  labors.  Weeks 
told  me  that  when  he  began,  the  queen  observed  that  most  por- 
trait painters  drew  her  with  her  mouth  open,  which  was  not  very 
becoming,  and  would  he  be  so  good  as  to  shut  it  a  little.  Her 
majesty  possesses  what  is  called  a  "  rabbit's  mouth ;"  that  is,  the 
two  front  teeth  project  over  the  under  lip.  The  queen  was  as  posi- 
tive in  her  wishes  as  a  large  mouthed  French  lady,  who  once  sate 
to  Jarvis,  and  puzzled  him  by  requesting  him  "  to  put  a  little 
mouse  in  her  face." 

She  gave  him  three  sittings,  and  this  bust,  the  first  of  the  Queen, 
was  a  real  masterpiece,  and  obtained  a  great  deal  of  attention  at 
the  Exposition  of  1838.  I  had  suggested  to  Weeks  to  fasten  up 
the  great  quantity  of  back  hair  which  the  Queen  wore  on  the  back 
of  her  head,  and  to  replace  the  comb  by  a  small  crown.  The 
suggestion  was  successful,  and  pleased  everybody,  particularly 
her  Majesty,  when  she  first  saw  the  bust.  The  medallion  portrait 
was  also  successful,  and  the  plate  taken  from  it  by  Bogardus' 
"  self-acting  tracer,"  was  the  finest  specimen  of  art  that  had  yet 
appeared.  Neither  Collas'  machine,  nor  the  stiffly  moving  one  of 
Bates,  had  the  soft  well  formed  lines  of  Bogardus'  invention  which 
imitated  the  best  productions  of  Raphael  Morghen. 

The  Baroness  Lehzen  had  procured  permission  for  me  to  present 
some  twenty  copies  of  this  to  her  Majesty,  and  Weeks  and  my 
self  were  requested  to  come  to  Buckingham  Palace.  On  former 
visits  to  Windsor,  I  had  become  acquainted  with  Mr.  Fozard,  the 
Queen's  riding-master.  We  spoke  once  of  the  Queen's  person, 
and  I  asked  if  she  were  pretty  as  commonly  reported.     "  Oh  !" 

IS* 


418  INTERVIEW  WITH  THji  QUEEN. 

he  said,  "  she  is  most  beautiful — you  never  saw  the  like."  On 
my  arrival  at  Windsor,  I  was  sent  into  a  room,  where  the  baron- 
ess soon  came  in  her  riding-dress,  with'the  skirt  thrown  over  her 
arm.  "  Ah  !"  she  said,  "  you  are  there.  I  will  tell  her  Majesty. 
You  will  not  have  to  wait  long."  She  had  just  returned  from 
accompanying  the  Queen  in  a  ride.  In  a  little  while  I  heard  a 
rustle,  and  said  to  myself,  "  In  a  moment,  the  Majesty  of  England 
will  stand  before  thine  eyes."  The  door  opened,  and  a  young 
lady,  with  a  couple  of  heavy  locks  fallen  about  her  face,  entered 
hastily,  followed  by  the  baroness  and  two  ladies  of  honor.  Yet 
it  was  not  a  hasty  step,  but  rather  a  waddle,  like  that — I  say  it 
with  reverence — of  a  duck.  At  the  first  glance,  the  uplifted  dress 
permitted  me  to  remark  that  her  instep  was  not  like  that  of  the 
Venus  de  Medicis,  but  on  the  contrary,  that  her  Majesty  was  flat-" 
footed.  The  Queen  went  directly  to  the  bust  which  was  placed 
on  rather  too  lofty  a  pedestal,  and  repeated  two  or  three  times, 
"  It  is  very  fine."  Then  she  came  to  me,  who  had  opened  a  hand- 
some portfolio,  containing  the  engravings.  She  was  astonished  at 
the  relief;  lifted  one  of  them  and  turned  it  to  see  if  it  were  not 
embossed.  I  had  prepared  answers  to  expected  questions  on  the 
nature  of  the  machine,  but  in  a  moment,  she  gave  me  one  nod, 
and  Weeks  another,  and  with  one  more  glance  at  her  bust,- wad- 
dled away,  followed  by  a  lady  of  honor.  The  other  lady,  Lady 
Caroline  Cavendish  and  the  Baroness  remained,  and  were  far  more 
curious  than  her  Majesty,  and  asked  me  a  great  many  questions. 
Then  the  Baroness  inquired  if  it  were  my  intention  to  get  the 
portraits  of  other  European  sovereigns.  I  answered  yes ;  and 
mentioned  the  King  of  the  Belgians  as  the  next,  because  I  knew 
that  he  was  her  friend  and  patron,  and  had  procured  her  her  post 
near  the  Queen. 

As  I  came  back  from  the  Castle,  I  saw  Mr.  Fozard  before  me. 
"  Well,  sir,"  said  he,  "  how  did  you  find  her  Majesty  ?"  "  Why, 
Mr.  Fozard,"  I  said,  "  I  am  far  from  being  surprised  at  her 
beauty.  She  has  enough  of  it  for  a  queen,  but  she  is  not  a  hand- 
some woman."  "  For  God's  sake,  don't  say  so,"  he  said,  "  here- 
abouts we  don't  hear  many  remarks  of  that  sort.  Her  Majesty 
is  certainly  beautiful,  very  beautiful,  and  she  rides  well,  extremely 


MY  ARREST.  410 

well.  1  have  been  her  teacher,  and  when  she  .a  going  to  take 
exercise  on  horseback,  it  is  me  who  enjoys  the  honor  of  placing 

her  royal  b ;  here  he  clapped  his  hand  to  his  mouth — her 

royal  person,  I  was  going  to  say — upon  the  saddle,  and  of  putting 
her  royal  foot  into  the  stirrup." 

I  then  bid  farewell  to  Mr.  Fozard,  the  riding-master,  and 
returned  with  my  friend  Weeks  to  London. 

In  the  Court  News  appeared  a  short  notice  of  the  honor  het 
majesty  had  done  me  ;  and  I  saw  no  result,  save  a  good  one,  from 
it  all.  Nevertheless,  two  days  afterwards  I  was  arrested  in  my 
house,  in  Edgeware  Road,  at  the  suit  of  Duke  Charles  of  Bruns- 
wick. I  had  taken  a  contract  from  his  companion,  Baron  Andlau, 
for  sabretaches,  sword  and  bayonet  sheaths,  and  knapsacks ;  for 
which  the  Duke  had  paid  50,000  francs  on  account,  and  had  pro- 
mised to  pay  all  within  two  months.  This  contract  was  not  ful- 
filled, and  the  belligerent  duke  instantly  commenced  a  suit,  with- 
out a  word  of  advice  to  me.  The  question  was,  simply,  wThether 
I  was  bound  by  the  whole  contract  before  the  duke  had  fulfilled 
his  part ;  but  he  was  fond  of  lawsuits,  as  his  numerous  cases  in 
England  proved.  I  had  hitherto  lived  unsued,  and  this  one  only 
served  to  complete  my  distress.  So  soon  as  Baron  Andlau  heard 
of  this  suit,  he  brought  me  8000  francs,  out  of  10,000  which  had 
not  been  paid  in  the  above-named  sum  of  50,000,  and  said  that 
the  agent  in  the  transaction  would  be  accountable  for  the  other 
2000.  The  baron  had  served  the  duke  as  long  as  the  unworthy 
nature  of  the  latter  would  permit,  but  there  wrere  other  grounds 
Tor  their  separation,  which  took  place  soon  after.  He  now 
brought  me  back  the  money,  for  fear  of  certain  possible  exposi- 
tions, which  would  have  lost  him  the  duke's  confidence.  The 
case  was  decided  against  me,  and  I  was  condemned  to  pay  back 
the  whole  sum,  without  regard  to  the  fact  that  I  had  expended 
30,000  francs  in  the  contract.  There  should  have  been  an  appeal, 
but  my  clerk,  whom  I  left  in  Paris,  on  my  journey  to  Rome,  see- 
ing how  difficulties  were  thronging  about  me,  lost  his  head,  and 
did  nothing,  except  sell  all  the  sheaths  and  knapsacks  that  had 
been  bought  for  about  half  their  cost.  I  was  utterly  helpless  on 
my  return  from  Rome,  and  was  nearly  penniless  when  I  went  to 


420  THE  "  QUEEN'S  BENCH." 

England.  Of  course  I  could  do  nothing  without  money.  The 
duke  had  sworn  in  London  to  my  indebtedness,  and  that  sufficed 
to  put  me  in  prison.  He  knew  my  circumstances  perfectly  well ; 
and  although  assured  that  my  imprisonment  would  not  procure 
restitution  of  his  advances,  yet  his  evil  nature  forbade  him  to  be 
kind  to  any  one  whom  he  had  in  his  power.  I  learned,  too,  that 
he  was  angry  because  the  queen  had  received  me,  while  he  was 
forbidden  the  court  forever.  I  could  have  gotten  bail,  but  was 
unable  to  pay  a  lawyer,  and  so  I  determined  to  bear  my  fate  as  it 
came.  I  had  two  reasons  for  this.  First,  that  the  House  of  Com- 
mons was  then  occupied  with  the  question  of  imprisonment  for 
debt,  and  everybody  was  waiting  for  the  result  of  their  delibera- 
tions ;  and  second,  that  my  honest  friend  Emanuel  Bernoulli, 
then  resident  in  London,  was  in  hopes  of  arranging  matters  with 
the  duke's  solicitor.  My  old  friend  Siegmond  Rucker  discovered 
my  whereabouts  by  accident.  He  came  to  see  me,  and  promised 
to  get  me  the  "  liberties,"  namely,  four  square  miles  about  the 
prison  of  "  Queen's  Bench,"  by  going  bail  for  me.  But  week  after 
week  passed,  without  my  hearing  further  from  him.  I  supposed 
him  to  be  ill,  but  afterwards  learned  that  he  had  followed  the 
advice  of  a  mutual  acquaintance,  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  a 
matter  which  must  cost  him  trouble,  and  might  cost  money.  I 
was  again  the  plaything  of  a  ruthless  fate,  and  only  got  out  of  one 
scrape  that  I  might  fall  into  another.  I  heard  no  more  of  friend 
Rucker,  and  remained  a  member  of  the  large  and  varied  society 
of  the  Queen's  Bench ;  among  which  I  found  one  old  acquaint- 
ance, an  Englishman,  named  Swain e,  with  whom  I  had  become 
acquainted  thirty  years  before  in  New  iTork ;  whom  I  had  fre- 
quently seen  during  my  visits  to  London,  and  whom,  from  his 
neatness  of  dress,  I  had  supposed  to  be  wealthy,  although  a  hard 
drinker. 

There  ought  to  be  interest  enough  among  my  readers  to  accept 
here  a  description  of  the  Queen's  Bench  prison,  of  which  I  was  an 
inmate  for  three  months  and  a  half.  After  passing  through  three 
well-watched  gates,  you  enter  a  large  oblong  court,  girt  by  a  wall 
50  or  55  feet  high.  To  the  right,  in  a  corner,  is  a  well-built  three- 
»torjr  house,  which  is  let  at  a  high  rent  to  noble  prisoners.     One 


PRISON  SOCIETY.  421 

gentleman  had  inhabited  one  story  for  fourteen  years  ;  another, 
the  great  William  Cobbett's  son,  had  been  eight  years  in  the 
prison.  From  the  left  corner  to  the  outer  wall  of  the  place 
stretched  a  double  row  of  houses,  the  furthest  of  which  could  be 
hired,  furnished,  by  such  as  were  able  to  pay ;  the  others  were 
for  those  who  lived  on  the  allowance  of  their  creditors.  At  the 
end  of  these  houses  is  a  small  covered  market,  where  one  can  buy 
at  eight  o'clock,  A.  M.,  fresh  fish,  flesh,  vegetables,  eggs,  butter, 
etc.  You  either  buy  for  yourself  or  trust  servants,  who  are  not 
always  very  conscientious.  From  the  market  you  take  your  pur- 
chases to  one  of  the  cookshops  in  the  neighborhood,  and  get  it 
prepared  for  your  table.  You  get  your  breakfast  from  female 
attendants,  who  are  here  in  plenty,  and  who  are  the  wives  of  poor 
debtors.  The  large  oblong  place  between  the  furthest  row  of 
houses  and  the  wall  is  a  ball-ground  and  promenade,  where,  when 
the  weather  permits,  you  can  breathe  the  air,  and,  if  you  choose, 
imagine  yourself  at  liberty.  The  space  between  the  other  row 
and  the  wall  is  much  narrower.  As  soon  as  the  doors  are 
opened  in  the  morning,  in  pours  a  torrent  of  outsiders,  shop- 
keepers, visitors,  newsmen,  etc.  To  an  Englishman,  the  news- 
paper is  the  first  necessity  ;  the  breakfast  comes  afterwards ; 
with  poor  prisoners  as  long  after  as  possible.  "  Time  is  money," 
is  not  true  in  prison  ;  there  time  is  a  burden,  which  grows  day  by 
day  heavier,  and  must  yet  be  borne  with  patience.  A  postman  helps 
you  to  communicate  with  your  friends,  and  a  circulating  library 
within  the  prison-bounds  furnishes  you  with  intellectual  pastime. 
The  society  of  the  Queen's  Bench  is  an  epitome  of  the  world. 
Here  is  the  indebted  peer,  the  ruined  speculator,  the  unfortunate 
merchant,  the  impoverished  artisan,  the  rich  and  poor  burgess 
and  noble  together.  There  is  an  especial  abundance  of  those  who 
have  spent  all  upon  horses,  or  women,  or  cards.  I  had  several 
pointed  out  to  me,  but  shunned  a  nearer  acquaintance.  My  cice- 
rone was  a  reverend  vicar,  singularly  unlike  the  Vicar  of  Wake- 
field, who  had  preferred  the  race-course  to  the  parsonage,  and  had 
expended  at  Newmarket  what  should  have  paid  the  butcher  and 
baker.  This  man  lived  in  the  same  house  with  me,  and  had 
scraped  acquaintance  on  the  door-step;  and  I  allowed  him  to  visit 


422  VISIT  FROM  MY  WIFE. 

me  because  his  good-humored,  child-like  narratives  amused  me. 
He  knew  every  face  in  the  prison,  and  had  something  to  tell 
about  each,  to  which  I  listened ;  for,  I  confess  it,  if  I  love  any- 
thing, it  is  a  little  bit  of  scandal. 

The  slow  progress  of  the  bill  for  the  modification  of  imprison- 
ment made  me  very  impatient.  My  old  friend,  Thomas  Thorne- 
ly,  of  Liverpool,  member  of  Parliament  for  Wolverhampton, 
was  good  enough  to  give  me  a  hope  that  the  debates  would  soon 
terminate  ;  but  three  and  a  half  months'  loneliness,  with  no  com- 
fort but  this  hope,  had  destroyed  my  patience.  Now  approached 
the  coronation  of  a  queen,  adored  since  childhood,  and  the  only 
monarch  in  Europe  who  could  follow  the  standard  of  Freedom 
hand  in  hand  with  the  happy  people.  I  was  much  occupied  with 
the  thought  of  the  crowds  of  strangers  now  pouring  into  London. 
I  desired  freedom,  if  only  for  the  day  ;  not  for  love  of  festivity, 
but  to  share  with  a  full  heart  in  the  jubilant  feeling  of  the  people. 
One  day,  the  upper  gaoler  told  me  I  was  free.  Bernouilli  had 
come  to  an  understanding  with  the  duke's  solicitor.  I  left  the 
place  at  1  P.  M.,  called  a  hack,  and  drove  home  to  Edgeware 
Road.  Then  I  went  to  Bernouilli,  to  inquire  by  what  means  he 
had  procured  my  liberation.  He  had  agreed  that  I  should  pay 
the  whole  sum  with  interest,  at  so  much  a  year,  beginning  from 
July  1,  1844.  It  might  well  be  doubted  whether  I  would  reach 
the  66th  year  of  my  life  to  pay  ;  but  I  did,  and  eleven  years  later, 
at  the  age  of  seventy,  I  began  to  prepare  my  "  System  of  Assu- 
rance and  Bottomry,"  which  employed  me  during  two  years  and 
a  half.  Now  in  freedom,  I  could  remark  the  masses  of  people, 
from  every  land,  now  streaming  through  the  streets  of  London. 
I  abstain  here  from  describing  the  various  groups  that  thronged 
the  streets  and  squares,  particularly  Leicester  Square  and  the 
neighborhood  of  Hay  market  Theatre,  because  I  have  already 
done  much  the  same  thing,  with  reference  to  the  great  exhibition 
some  years  before.  But  the  effect  of  such  crowds  upon  a  just 
released  prisoner  was  extraordinary. 

A  day  or  two  afterwards  there  was  a  knock  at  my  door ;  it 
opened,  and  I  saw  my  wife.  For  this  pleasure  I  had  to  thank  my 
old,  unchanging  friend,  Jacques  de  Berckholtz,  who  had  long  lived 


THE  CORONATION.  423 

in  Paris,  and  now  gave  the  lie  to  Rousseau's  assertion,  that  Paris 
is  "  la  ville  ou  Vamitie  ne  resiste  ni  a  Vadveraite  ni  a  Vabsence." 
A  little  group  of  friends  had  determined  to  come  to  London  for 
the  coronation,  and  my  wife  had  taken  this  opportunity.  She 
thus  was  enabled  to  bring  me  consolation,  and  to  see  a  rare 
festival.  She  loved  sight-seeing ;  and,  indeed,  what  woman  does 
not,  if  it  be  not  too  costly  ! 

Early  on  the  morning  of  her  arrival  she  went  to  the  Queen's 
Bench,  and  there  learned  my  release,  and  came  to  Edgeware 
Road. 

The  coronation  took  place  the  next  day,  and  our  friends  had 
accepted  the  offer  of  a  window  in  St.  James-street.  The  proces- 
sion was  to  pass  through  St.  James-street,  Pall  Mall,  Charing 
Cross,  and  Westminster,  to  the  Cathedral.  I  saw  the  procession 
from  a  window  in  Charing  Cross,  with  Weeks,  the  sculptor,  and 
his  amiable  wife.  A  hearty  cheer  greeted  the  French  Ambassa- 
dor, Marshal  Soult,  as  he  sate  in  his  own  Parisian,  and  unusually 
elegant  carriage.  Sir  Robert  Peel  led  the  cheer  from  a  window 
of  the  Carlton  Club,  swinging  his  hat  and  commencing  a  hurrah, 
that  was  echoed  down  the  line  to  the  very  Cathedral.  He  him- 
self was  not  in  the  church,  but  remained  in  the  club. 

One  of  the  finest  sights  of  the  day  was  the  ascension  of  the 
great  Nassau  Balloon  surrounded  by  seven  others,  from  St.  James's 
Park  at  the  close  of  the  coronation.  The  day  was  unusually  fine, 
and  the  sky  quite  cloudless.  If  the  crowds  of  people  were  unable 
all  to  see  their  young  queen,  at  least  they  saw  the  full  glory  of 
the  sun,  a  very  rare  occurrence  in  London,  "  where,"  say  the  Nea- 
politans, "  he  is  not  worth  the  moon  in  Naples." 

After  showing  my  wife  whatever  was  remarkable  in  London, 
which  she  found  not  so  amusing  as  the  Boulevards,  I  accompanied 
her  to  Southampton,  whence  she  set  out  with  her  friends  for  Paris. 
She  quit  with  but  little  regret  the  ancient  mass  of  stone,  West- 
minster Abbey,  and  the  rusty  relics  in  the  Tower,  without  any 
wish  to  see  them  again.  Her  strongest  desires  were  to  get  back 
to  her  daughter,  and  to  breathe  again  the  air  of  Paris.  I  had  as 
yet  no  clear  views  for  future  employment ;  but  my  habit  of  con- 
sidering the  United  States  the  land  of  hope,  and  a  great  desire  to 


424  THE  "GREAT  WESTERN. 

revisit  it,  reigned  within  me.  I  had  lived  and  labored  there  so 
long,  had  made  so  many  acquaintances,  had  so  advanced  its  com- 
merce, especially  in  cotton,  that  it  appeared  impossible  that  I 
should  be  forgotten  there,  or  that  I  would  not  be  able  here  and 
there  to  find  some  traces  of  former  trust  and  good  will.  To  get 
such  thoughts  out  of  my  head,  as  soon  as  the  packet  in  which  my 
wife  had  sailed  came  back,  I  went  down  to  Bristol  to  take  a  look 
at  the  marine  wonder,  the  Great  Western,  just  returned  from  her 
first  voyage  to  New  York.  I  also  remembered  an  old  London 
acquaintance,  now  in  the  firm  of  Guppy.  On  my  return  through 
Cheltenham,  which  I  had  not  seen  for  twenty-nine  years,  I  visited 
Leamington,  where  I  found  an  old  acquaintance  whom  I  had  sup- 
posed to  be  dead.  This  was  Admiral  Coffin,  with  whom  I  had 
become  acquainted  thirty-three  years  before  in  his  birthplace, 
Boston,  and  who  was  now  watching  for  his  last  hour  in  peace,  con- 
vinced that  he  had  done  his  duty  both  as  man  and  mariner.  He, 
like  the  old  book-keeper  at  Leghorn,  knew  me  by  my  voice.  I 
told  him  of  my  idea  of  making  a  voyage  to  America  in  the  Great 
Western.  "  Ah !"  said  he,  taking  my  hand  kindly,  "  if  you 
esteem  your  life,  give  up  that  thought.  The  Great  Western  has 
had  the  good  fortune  to  make  one  summer  transatlantic  voyage, 
but  in  autumn  and  early  winter  it  is  a  risk  of  human  life  to  sail  in 
her.  She  may  succeed  once  or  twice,  but  that  is  all.  In  the 
heavy  winter  storms  no  steamer  can  scud;  be  sure  of  that." 
Somewhat  shaken  in  my  resolution  by  the  old  sailor's  counsel,  I 
returned  to  London  and  told  my  friend  Bogardus  the  foregoing. 
He  allowed  that  an  old  sailor  was  a  good  authority  upon  a  vessel 
entirely  dependent  upon  the  humor  of  the  winds ;  but  a  steamer 
sets  the  weather  at  defiance,  if  well  built  and  if  sailors  and  engi- 
neers understood  their  duty.  He  then  explained  the  power  of 
steam  in  a  storm  so  clearly  that  I  gave  up  my  old  sea-hero,  and 
was  convinced  of  the  perfect  security  of  the  steamer.  Dr.  Dio- 
nysius  Lardner,  who  wrote  a  book  in  1837  to  demonstrate  the 
impossibility  of  ocean-steamers,  in  1839  made  a  passage  in  one 
from  New  York.  I  took  my  passage,  and  in  the  end  of  October 
we  put  to  sea.  The  next  day  a  heavy  westerly  storm  set  in,  the 
rudder  was  unshipped,  a  wheel  was  broken  ;  the  bowsprit  was 


ARRIVAL  IN  NEW  YORK.  425 

shivered,  and  part  of  the  bulwarks  carried  away.  The  storm  lasted 
nine  days,  and  as  we  saw  no  sun,  no  one  could  tell  our  where- 
abouts. Yet  I  had  never  felt  more  assured.  In  seaman's  phrase, 
the  vessel  swam  like  a  duck.  One  day,  in  the  cabin,  a  lady  said 
to  me,  "  Good  God,  Mr.  Nolte,  you  sit  there  as  quietly  as  if  this 
were  all  play."  "  I  am  really  quiet,  madam,"  I  replied,  "  because 
I  feel  safe."  "  God  bless  your  confidence,  sir,"  were  her  words, 
as  she  lay  down.  The  next  morning  the  storm  lulled,  the  neces- 
sary repairs  were  made,  and  the  lady  said  to  me,  smiling,  "  Well, 
sir,  it  seems  you  were  quite  right,  after  all."  Nine  days  after,  we 
reached  New  York.  This  is  the  longest  recorded  passage  of  a 
steamer ;  but  then  18  days  seemed  little  to  me,  compared  with 
my  58  days'  voyage  in  the  Minerva  Smyth  in  1816. 

In  New  York  I  saw  again  a  friend  whom  I  had  not  met  for 
eleven  years — De  Rham,  head  of  the  first  French  house  there. 
We  had  worked  together  in  Nantes  in  1804,  and  had  gone  together 
to  the  United  States  in  1805.  He  belonged  to  the  few  who  have 
passed  forty  eight  years  of  mercantile  life  in  New  York  with  un- 
shaken credit,  although  not  from  need  but  from  propriety  he 
stopped  payment  for  five  days,  in  the  crisis  of  1836.  He  did  so, 
simply,  to  assure  himself  of  the  impossibility  of  failure,  which 
greatly  amazed  New  York.  He  had  not  one  creditor  who  had 
sold  his  paper  even  at  one  per  cent,  discount ;  and,  save  the  five 
days'  suspension,  he  showed  no  sign  of  weakness. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

NICHOLAS  BIDDLE  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK. 

Wilder,  the  agent  of  the  house  of  Messrs.  Hottinguer  <fe  Co.,  in  Paris  and 
Havre — His  intimacy  with  Nicholas  Biddle,  the  President  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Bank  of  the  United  States — Biddle's  project  to  restore  the  balance  of 
trade,  between  England  and  the  United  States,  to  an  equilibrium — A  colos- 
sal operation  in  cotton,  the  means  for  which  are  obtained  by  the  strength  of 
my  own  credit — The  pitcher  goes  too  often  to  the  well,  aud  is  broken  at 
last — Violent  conclusion  to  the  enterprise — Imprisonment  in  New  Orleans — 
Return  to  the  north,  overland — Cincinnati— Philadelphia — The  adventuress 
from  Florence,  my  travelling  companion  to  New  York — Embarkation  for 
England,  on  board  of  the  Steamer  Great  Western — Race  between  this  ves- 
sel and  its  competitor,  The  British  Queen — Classification  of  the  compauy  on 
board  of  the  two  steamers,  by  Gordon  (James  Gordon  Bennett  ? — Trans.), 
editor  of  the  New  York  paper,  "  Morning  Herald" — The  Great  Western 
wins  the  race,  reaching  England  three  days  earlier  than  the  British  Queen. 

I  wanted  very  much  to  go  to  New  Orleans,  but  was  detained 
in  New  York  longer  than  I  expected,  by  the  attorneys  of  Hottin- 
guer &  Co.  of  Havre.  Mr.  Wilder  had  lived  long  in  Paris,  as 
partner  in  a  New  York  silk  house,  in  connection  with  the  Lyons 
silk  factories,  and  we  had  known  each  other  there.  He  had  a 
good  deal  to  do  with  Hottinguer  &  Co.,  and  had  won  their  confi- 
dence by  his  punctual  fulfilment  of  engagements.  He  knew  me 
just  when  I  was  of  the  utmost  importance  as  cotton-merchant,  not 
only  in  America,  but  in  Liverpool  and  Havre.  He  had,  from 
what  he  had  seen  of  me,  even  after  my  failure  in  1826,  conceived 
a  high  opinion  of  me  and  of  my  influence  with  cotton-planters  in 
Louisiana  and  Mississippi.  He  was  also  in  the  confidence  of 
Nicholas  Biddle,  who  was  considered  the  first  financier  in  America, 
and  who  desired  to  govern  the  European  cotton-market  by  his 


.NICHOLAS  MDDLE.  427 

bank  influence.  He  was  urged  to  do  this  by  the  uncertain  posU 
tion  of  American  credit  in  the  European  markets ;  because  the 
central  point  of  this  commerce  was  London,  where  the  imports  of 
manufactured  goods  from  France  had  created  a  deficit  for  Ameri- 
cans of  from  13  to  15,000,000  dollars.  Add  to  this  $13,000,000 
of  interest  on  a  debt  of  $234,006,648,  borrowed  by  the  various 
states  on  their  own  responsibility.  In  carrying  out  this  project, 
less  was  thought  of  a  possible  rise  in  cotton  than  of  losing 
$27,000,000,  to  be  annually  paid  in  Europe.  The  rise  of  a  single 
penny  on  the  pound  on  575,000  bales  of  360  lbs,  each  (the  quan 
tity  furnished  by  the  crop  of  1837-8),  would  have  made  a  differ- 
ence of  $11,500,000;  the  rise  of  a  second  penny  wrould  reduce 
the  trade-balance  against  the  states  to  almost  nothing.  But  seve- 
ral things  were  necessary  to  effect  this  rise  :  First,  to  strengthen 
the  hands  of  holders  in  England,  so  that  they  could  not  be  com- 
pelled by  lack  of  means  to  sell ;  second,  to  overcome  the  natural 
unwillingness  of  the  spinners  to  pay  a  higher  price  for  the  raw 
material.  Every  merchant  knows  that  the  spinner  is  willing  to 
pay  a  higher  price,  if  he  can  get  the  same  rise  in  the  prices  of  his 
manufactures.  This  idea  did  not  get  into  Biddle's  head.  The 
advancing  consumption  of  raw  material  in  England  for  some 
years  back,  was  proof  enough  for  most  Americans  of  the  elasti- 
city of  the  market.  When  I  came  to  New  York,  in  November, 
1838,  he  had  ended  his  first  attempt  to  extend  the  grasp  of  his 
ideas  in  this  affair.  He  had  sent  persons  in  autumn,  1837,  to 
Charleston  and  New  Orleans,  to  buy  enormous  quantities  of  cotton 
on  the  bank's  account,  and  to  ship  it  to  Liverpool  and  Havre.  He 
had  established  his  eldest  son  and  an  old  Philadelphia  merchant 
in  Liverpool,  under  the  name  of  Humphreys  and  Biddle,  and  to 
them  his  cotton  wTas  consigned.  In  Havre,  the  consignees  were 
Hottingucr  &Co.,  with  whose  representative  Wilder  he  had  come 
to  an  understanding,  and  whose  paper  was  sold  through  his  bank. 
This  colossal  affair  did  very  well  the  first  year.  At  this  moment 
I  reached  New  York  and  visited  Wilder,  then  in  the  zenith  of  his 
glory.  As  soon  as  he  saw  me,  he  said,  "  You  are  the  man  who 
could  best  have  based  our  operations  in  New  Orleans."  I  asked 
if  I  were  too  late  to  take  a  share  at  least  in  the  business,  and  he 


428  NEW  ORLEANS  AGAIN. 

said,  "  Not  quite  ;  you  are  au  old  friend  of  our  house  ;  I  will  write 
to  Mr.  Biddle ;  he  will  see  you  gladly,  and,  at  any  rate,  you  shall 
hear  from  me  in  New  Orleans." 

I  wrent  to  Philadelphia^  and  was  warmly  received  by  Biddle  and 
his  brother-in-law,  Craig,  both  of  whom  I  had  known  very  well 
before.  After  a  couple  of  days'  thought,  he  decided  to  make  no 
change  in  the  present  course  of  his  business  or  in  his  agencies. 
But  he  said  that  I  should  have  every  help  in  my  own  business 
from  his  branch-bank  in  New  Orleans — the  Merchants'  Bank. 
These  were  mere  words,  but  I  have  never  had  cause  to  mistrust 
him,  and  have  often  been  helped  by  the  house  of  Humphreys  & 
Biddle. 

I  went  through  Baltimore,  Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  North 
and  South  Carolina,  Hamburgh,  and  Milledgeville  to  Mobile.  I 
met  many  old  acquaintances,  and  was  joyfully  received  in  New 
Orleans.  I  received  from  my  old  comrades  an  invitation  for  the 
festival  of  January  8,  the  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  New  Or- 
leans, where  my  health  was  drank  as  an  old  soldier  of  that  day, 
and  as  a  promoter  of  commerce.  Twenty-four  years  had  elapsed 
since  that  day,  and  had  left  but  few  of  my  old  comrades.  Among 
them,  however,  was  my  commandant  Planche,  now  a  militia  gen- 
eral. His  love  for  Jackson  was  as  fiery  as  ever,  and  he  made  a 
long  speech  in  French,  requesting  me  to  translate  it  to  the  guests, 
which  I  did,  though  of  course,  all  the  fire  of  the  original  was  lost. 

When  I  left  England,  Messrs.  Barings  had  promised  to  keep 
me  informed  about  the  condition  of  the  cotton  market,  and  I  soon 
received  letters.  The  coming  crop  was,  of  course,  the  settling  point 
of  the  hoped  for  advance  in  prices.  In  England,  1,800,000  bales 
were  reckoned  on,  and  the  fixedness  of  the  current  price  was  believed 
to  be  sure.  The  circular  of  the  first  fifteen  cotton- brokers  at  the 
close  of  the  year  said,  Dec.  31,  1838  :  "  The  whole  matter  rests 
on  the  amount  of  the  import  and  the  politics  of  the  American 
Bank  Party,  and  these  are  inseparable."  The  weekly  British 
consumption  during  the  year,  was  23,204  bales,  and  the  total 
stock  remaining  in  Great  Britain,  was  321,000,  or  enough  for 
fourteen  weeks.  The  coming  crop  was  therefore  of  great  import- 
ance, as  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  consumption  would 


SPECULATIONS  AS  TO  THE  PRICE  OF  COTTON.         429 

continue.  The  smaller  the  crop,  of  course  the  better  for  the 
Bank  party.  At  the  end  of  the  year,  the  maximum  was  set  down 
at  1,700,000  bales  at  highest.  But  I,  who  had  had  so  much  expe- 
rience in  cotton,  knew  certainly,  from  the  best  instructed  planters, 
of  all  the  cotton  growing  States,  that  the  crop  would  not  exceed 
1,600,000.  I  was  then  told  from  England,  that  if  it  did  not  sur- 
pass a  million  and  a  half,  there  would  be  an  important  rise  in 
prices,  and  if  it  stopped  at  1,400,000  bales,  "  there  was  no  telling 
to  what  rate  prices  might  go."  When  the  crop  was  gathered  in, 
it  furnished  but  1,360,000  bales.  Only  one  unforeseeable  circum- 
stance occurred  to  interfere  with  the  Bank  plans.  Breadstuff's 
were  extraordinarily  rare  in  England ;  and  this,  according  to  the 
measures  of  the  Bank  of  England,  in  such  cases,  affected  the  cotton 
industry.  It  became  necessary  to  import  a  great  quantity  of 
breadstuff's,  and  this  threatened  great  difficulties  in  the  money 
market,  as  an  outlay  of  £10,000,000  must  be  made  for  grain. 
The  quantity  of  American  state  paper  that  had  been  bought,  the 
sums  sent  out  for  cotton,  and  some  monetary  difficulties  in  Bel- 
gium and  France  made  a  tightness  in  the  English  money  market 
positive.  Interest  rose  :  money  must  be  paid  for  bread  :  foreign 
exchanges  were  wanting  :  instead  of  strengthening  the  Bank  (of 
England)  by  selling  out  some  of  its  State  Paper,  the  directors 
determined  to  require  3 \  per  cent,  interest  on  Exchequer  Bills 
and  other  paper,  which  would  accumulate  such  paper  in  their 
portfolio,  and  keep  the  circulation  of  their  notes  in  its  usual 
position.  On  the  28th  Feb.,  1839,  after  £2,000,000  ready  money 
had  been  paid  out,  the  Bank  announced  its  intention  of  keeping 
up  the  3£  per  cent,  interest  until  April,  although  the  discount 
price  at  the  Exchange  was  now  4  or  4|  per  cent.  Without  re- 
membering the  crisis  of  1837,  the  Bank  stuck  to  this  resolve,  and 
on  the  28th  Feb.  1839,  its  position  was  as  follows: 


Portfolio,  etc.,    -    -    £21, Hi  ,000 
Specie,     -    -    -    -         6,713,000 


£28,514,000 
£  of  the  Obligations,  £8,619,000. 


Circulation,  -  -  -  £18,098,000 
Deposits,  -  -  7,759,000 
Reserve  funds,  -     •         2,657,000 


£28,514,000 


430 


COMMENCEMENT  OF  OPERATIONS. 


Three  Months  later,  May  28. 


Portfolio,  &c,     - 
Specie,     -    -    - 

-     £23,543,000 
5,119,000 

Circulation,   -     -    - 
Deposits,       ... 
Reserve  funds,  -     - 

ions,  £8,676,000. 

£18,214,000 
7,814,000 
2,634,000 

£28,662,000 
J  of  the  Obligat 

£28,662,000 

Portfolio,  &c,     - 
Specie,    -  -     -     - 

Three  Months 
-     £25,141,000 
2,420,000 

later,  Aug.  28. 
Circulation,   -     -     - 
Deposits,       -     -     - 
Reserve  funds,  - 

£8,156,666.— -$■ 
culation  and  Deposits) 

£17,982,000 
6,488,000 
3,091,000 

£27,561,000 

g-  of  Obligations 
Obligations  (Cir 

For  every  £100  of 

£27,561,000 
the  Bank  only 

possessed  £9  17s.  lOd.  cash. 

In  six  months  the  Treasury  had  lost  £4,353,000  in  money, 
£4,400,000  in  paper.  The  poor  bread  crop  had  its  influence. 
Nothing  could  keep  money  in  the  country.  A  suspension  of 
payment  was  to  be  looked  for :  interest  was  at  from  7  to  10  per 
cent.,  and  the  outlay  of  ready  money,  at  least,  £5,729,666. 

The  result  of  this  and  of  the  dearth  was  a  forced  lessening  of 
the  consumption  of  cotton,  which  now  in  England  amounted  to 
328,043  bales,  of  which  241,785  were  American.  The  weekly 
consumption  was  now  16,896  bales,  instead  of  23,204  as  in  the 
preceding  year.     The  reader  will  now  understand  what  follows. 

Towards  the  end  of  January,  Mr.  Wilder  commissioned  me  to 
buy  1,000  bales  of  cotton,  one  fifth  for  myself,  and  the  rest  for  his 
friends,  making  my  own  venture  about  $6,400,  of  which  I  must 
pay  $1600  in  cash.  I  did  not  possess  so  much,  and  was  yet  un- 
willing to  prevent  my  re-entrance  into  this  business.  These 
commissions  must  be  attended  to  without  loss  of  time,  or  refused. 
I  undertook  it.  My  commissions  on  the  whole  purchase  reduced 
my  need  to  $500,  which  I  hoped  to  make  up  in  some  other  way. 
I  told  Mr.  Wilder  that  I  could  combine  other  affairs  like  this,  if 
I  could  make  certain  regular  advances  before  the  goods  were 
shipped,  and  the  bills  of  lading  signed,  only  that  I  had  no  means. 
If  he  wanted  to  go  further  he  must  give  me  the  credit.     He  sent 


TROUBLE  AGAII^  431 

me  a  second  letter  for  $50,000.  It  was  known  that  the  shipment 
was  addressed  to  my  old  friends  and  correspondents,  but  whether 
for  Mr.  Wilder's  account  or  my  own  was  not  known.  As  I  also 
made  shipments  at  the  same  time,  through  Alexander  Dennistoun 
&  Co.,  and  Mr.  Nicholson,  partner  of  James  Brown  &  Co.,  of 
Liverpool,  with  advance,  which  in  consequence  of  the  great  con- 
currence, amounted  to  87|  per  cent.,  it  was  evident  that  it  could 
not  be  all  for  other  people's  account ;  yet  no  one  saw  it,  or  if  they 
did,  they  kept  it  silent.  The  more  I  bought,  the  more  was  offered, 
and  when  I  said  I  must  refuse  from  want  of  money,  I  was  told  to 
take  the  cotton  and  pay  for  it  when  I  got  my  returns.  Two 
banks  also  offered  advances  upon  the  bills  of  lading  and  the  poli- 
cies of  insurance :  saying  that  the  cotton  might  remain  at  the 
presses,  and  that  the  receipts  of  the  press-owners  would  be  taken 
as  equivalents  for  the  policies  and  the  bills  of  lading,  until  these 
were  made  out.  Thus  I  got  means  to  make  advances,  although 
without  any  capital  of  my  own.  I  published  a  couple  of  circulars, 
which  convinced  everybody  that  a  rise  in  prices  was  inevitable. 
A  large  sale  made  in  England  at  ninepence  strengthened  this  con- 
viction.    It  was  the  case  with  all  that  I  shipped. 

1  had  not  entered  into  this  vortex  thoughtlessly.  I  must  go  on 
buying,  but  I  had  a  moral  certainty  that  the  net  products  of  all 
the  cotton  sold  in  Liverpool  would  more  than  meet  any  obliga- 
tions of  mine ;  and  so  I  continued,  acting  less  as  mere  speculator 
than  as  intermediate  between  furnishers  and  consumers. 

In  all  my  consignments  to  the  Barings,  I  had  requested  them, 
so  soon  as  the  sale  of  the  cotton  should  have  realized  more  than 
the  amount  of  the  advances,  to  send  me  credits  for  it  to  New 
York.  I  wanted  them  to  feel  safe,  and  then  I  trusted  all  to  the 
rise  in  prices,  of  which  I  felt  so  sure.  But  my  calculations  and 
theirs  were  all  deceived.  It  was  not  the  amount  of  the  crop  upon 
which  the  price  depended;  for  the  dearth  of  breadstuffs  had 
restricted  the  consumption  of  cotton  by  the  spinners  to  the  amount 
of  4650  bales  per  week. 

At  last,  a  letter  from  the  Barings  stopped  their  advances,  as 
they  doubted  whether  all  the  shipments  would  repay  them.  I 
must  stop  th"  buying.     The  greatest  difficulties  arose  from  the 


432  ANOTHER  COTTON  CRASH. 

errors,  outstanding  payments,  etc.,  which  resulted  from  advancing 
on  cotton,  and  obtaining  these  advances  on  the  receipts  of  the 
press-owners,  with  whom  it  was  deposited.  For  the  delayed 
payments,  the  cotton  yet  in  the  depots  was  security  for  the  sellers 
and  factors;  but  the  holders  of  the  receipts  upon  which  the 
advances  were  made,  also  claimed  it.  Every  lawyer  in  New 
Orleans  was  employed,  and  all  was  confusion.  I  collected  all 
who  had  an  interest  in  the  matter — some  nine  or  ten — and  showed 
them  the  true  position  of  affairs.  The  reader  will  be  surprised  to 
learn,  that  in  two  months  and  a  half  37,000  bales  of  cotton  had 
passed  through  my  hands.  My  explanations  showed  where  it  had 
gone ;  the  names  of  the  sellers  ;  the  amount  of  the  various  pur- 
chases ;  how  much  had  been  paid  or  was  due ;  the  European 
houses  to  whom  it  was  consigned  ;  the  amount  of  advances  made 
by  them  ;  and  proved  that  out  of  $1,440,000,  reckoning  cotton  at 
$40  per  bale,  not  one  dollar  had  been  improperly  employed,  or 
had  found  its  way  to  my  pocket.  This  statement  was  given  to 
a  committee  of  the  persons  concerned ;  whose  general  idea  was 
that  the  difficulty  was  but  momentary.  When  everything  had 
been  put  upon  paper,  it  was  unanimously  resolved,  that  if  any 
profit  should  finally  result,  it  should  be  mine. 

Now  came  the  point  of  managing  the  affair.  Who  should  be 
trusted  1  and  should  payments  be  made  according  to  the  amount 
claimed  by  each  creditor ;  or  should  all  be  united,  and  gradually 
paid,  equally  %  While  in  this  state,  the  firm  of  Reid,  Irving  & 
Co.,  London,  correspondents  of  the  Citizens'  Bank,  offered  to 
take  and  manage  the  whole  affair,  giving  good  guarantees  for  the 
debts. 

Then  appeared  single  claims  upon  me  personally ;  the  most 
important  being  those  of  the  press-owners.  I  was  left  in  freedom, 
however,  by  giving  bail  that  I  would  not  leave  the  country.  One 
of  my  bail  was  an  old  clerk  of  mine,  whom  I  had  taken,  when 
penniless,  in  Bayonne,  and  established  in  New  Orleans.  1  did  not 
enjoy  my  freedom  long.  Some  of  my  bailers,  volunteers  too, 
upon  whom  I  had  no  claim,  were  advised  to  retract,  and  did  so  ; 
and  while  I  was  about  getting  others,  my  old  clerk,  whom  for  ten 
years  I  had  protected,  trusted,  and  advanced,  followed  their  exam- 


RELEASED  FROM  PRISON".  433 

pie.  I  went  to  prison.  I  thought  the  imprisonment  uncalled  for, 
in  a  place  where  three  and  thirty  years  of  labor  had  won  for  me, 
deservedly,  the  reputation  of  an  honorable  man  ;  but  fortune  held 
the  bitter  cup  to  my  lips,  and  I  must  drain  it  to  the  dregs.  There, 
where  I  had  played  so  important  a  part,  won  such  universal  confi- 
dence, and  saved  by  timely  help  so  many  from  ruin,  I  could  not 
expect  to  be  housed  with  criminals  of  every  sort,  and  fed  with 
their  food,  or  starve.  My  counsel,  John  R.  Grymes,  convinced  of 
the  injustice  of  my  imprisonment,  attempted  to  get  me  released, 
and,  after  a  lapse  of  nine  days,  succeeded.  I  went  to  my  house, 
packed  up  a  few  things,  and  started  in  a  steamer  for  Louisville. 
It  was  twenty-two  years  since  I  had  been  here,  yet  I  found  my 
friend,  John  S.  Snead,  in  the  best  circumstances.  What  twenty- 
two  years  can  do  for  an  American  city  is  incomprehensible  in 
Europe.  In  1810  the  population  of  Cincinnati  was  2540,  in  1850 
it  was  119,460. 

From  Louisville  I  went  to  Cincinnati,  where  I  saw  in  the  har- 
bor over  sixty  steamboats.  Seated  at  the  end  of  the  breakfast- 
table,  in  the  great  eating-room  of  a  favorite  hotel,  a  pair  of  respect- 
able looking  gentlemen  came  in  and  sate  opposite  to  me.  Said 
one  to  the  other,  "  Vincent  Nolte,  of  New  Orleans,  came  up  by 
this  boat ;  I  don't  know  where  he  puts  up.     Do  you  know  him  f* 

"  A  little,"  was  the  answer  ;  "  he  was  pointed  out  to  me  once 
in  New  Orleans." 

"  Ah  !  What  does  he  look  like?' 

"  Simple  enough ;  no  fuss  about  him ;  an  open,  friendly 
manner." 

"He  must  be  a  devil  of  a  fellow.  Does  he  look  like  a 
schemer  V 

"  Not  at  all,"  was  the  reply. 

I  had  finished  my  breakfast,  and  it  was  near  the  time  of  em- 
barking ;  so  I  took  my  hat,  and  bowing  to  the  one  who  had  seen 
me,  said,  "  I  am  sorry  that  you  did  not  recognize  me.  My  name 
is  Vincent  Nolte,  and  I  have  the  honor  to  bid  you  good  morn- 
ing." As  I  went  away,  he  cried,  "  True,  by  God,  sir.  Oh,  what 
a  pity  !  I  should  have  liked  to  have  had  a  little  bit  of  a  chat 
with  you." 

19 


434  THE  NEW  YORK  HERALD : 

Had  I  remained,  there  would  have  been  no  end  of  questioning, 
for  which  the  Americans  are  notorious.  But  now  they  have  the 
indirect  method.  A  common  remark  is,  "I  speculate  what  the 
fellow  may  be  about." 

From  Cincinnati,  I  went  by  Wheeling,  to  Baltimore  and  Phila- 
delphia ;  where  I  saw  one  or  two  old  acquaintances — the  navy- 
agent,  John  Harrison,  the  most  courteous  entertainer,  and  the 
possessor  of  the  most  elegant  and  tasteful  house  in  America ;  and 
the  former  minister  to  Great  Britain,  Joseph  R.  Ingersoll.  So  to 
New  York.  My  companion  was  a  black-eyed,  well-formed  Italian 
lady.  She  was,  I  learned,  the  daughter  of  a  Florentine  notary, 
and  had  been  the  mistress  of  a  Polish  noble,  who  lost  his  life  in 
the  revolutionary  troubles  in  Ravenna  and  Bologna,  in  the  same 
battle  in  which  Louis  Napoleon's  elder  brother  was  killed.  She 
fought  at  his  side,  in  man's  clothes,  and  had  a  sabre-scar  on  her 
forehead.  She  had  come  to  the  United  States  through  Brazil, 
with  a  lineal  genealogy  from  the  discoverer  Americus  Vespucci. 
She  had  read  of  Lafayette's  reception,  and  hoped  for  such  another ; 
with  which  object  she  visited  Washington.  But  neither  Secretary 
of  State  nor  even  one  member  of  Congress  would  interest  him- 
self in  the  matter ;  and  she,  therefore,  levied  contributions  upon 
the  various  States.  In  this,  also,  she  failed.  Now  and  then  she 
got  $1000,  but  she  was  an  ordinary  adventuress,  and  gained  but 
little.  She  is  now  living  on  a  country-seat  near  Ogdensburg,  as 
mistress  of  a  Hamburgher  much  younger  than  herself. 

The  morning  after  my  arrival  in  New  York  I  went  to  Wall- 
street,  where  I  was  soon  surrounded  by  fifty  or  sixty  men,  desi- 
rous of  seeing  and  analyzing  the  "  keenest  cotton  speculator  iu 
America."  I  was  glad  to  get  back  to  my  hotel,  the  "  Globe," 
where  I  rested  at  least  until  the  next  day.  At  breakfast  next 
morning,  I  read  in  the  New  York  Herald  as  follows  :  "  Mr.  Vin- 
cent Nolte,  the  celebrated  cotton  speculator,  from  New  Orleans, 
has  arrived  at  the  Globe  Hotel,  Broadway."  The  waiter  was 
called  to  point  out  the  remarkable  man,  and  for  a  while  I  was  the 
mark  for  the  eyes  of  all  the  guests  ;  who,  when  tired  of  staring, 
said,  "  Why,  he  looks  like  other  people." 


ITS  CLASSIFICATION  OF  OUR  PASSENGERS.  435 

In  my  youth,  in  1804, 1  had  played  the  same  part  in  Peter  Go- 
defroy's  theatre  at  Hamburgh,  in  a  piece  taken  from  the  English, 
and  called  "  Notoriety."  The  character  pleased  me,  and,  when 
alone,  I  was  always  declaiming.  But  as  I  had  never  really  been 
the  object  of  a  universal  stare  until  now,  it  was  by  no  means 
agreeable  to  me ;  but  I  had  to  bear  it,  both  then  and  since.  I 
knew  Mr.  Bennet,  the  editor  of  the  Herald,  and  I  begged  of  him 
to  take  no  further  notice  of  me  in  his  paper,  and  this  he  promised. 
There  was  a  bet  for  the  passage  of  the  1st  of  August  between 
the  steamers  Great  Western  and  British  Queen.  Thousands  of 
people  crowded  the  wharves.  The  vessels  started,  and  passed 
through  the  Narrows  at  1  o'clock,  p.  m.  The  passengers  had  not 
looked  on  their  newspapers  as  yet,  but  when  the  Sandy  Hook 
Lighthouse  had  been  passed,  and  the  hills  of  Neversink  began  tc 
grow  dim,  the  Morning  Herald  came  in  play.  The  leading  article 
said  that  eight  hundred  passengers  were  in  the  two  steamers,  and 
might  thus  be  analyzed  : — 

^  worthy,  honorable  men. 

■j^  business  men,  well  to  do. 

j\j  unfortunate  or  ruined  business  men. 

^  drummers  for  European  houses. 

yJg-  idlers  in  good  circumstances. 

-j2q  speculators  and  schemers. 

y^  blackguards,  intriguers,  bankrupts,  etc. 

Then  came  the  list  of  names.  To  the  first  category  on  board 
the  Great  Western  belonged  General  Hamilton,  a  rich  South  Caro- 
linian cotton-planter,  very  influential,  and  one  of  the  first  partisans 
of  Texas,  for  which  state  he  had  bought  steamboats  for  inland  navi- 
gation and  for  military  service, — a  great  friend  of  Biddle's,  and 
now  on  his  road  to  London  to  negotiate  a  loan  for  Texas. 

In  the  third  category  stood  my  name.  "  Mr.  Vincent  Nolte,"  it 
said,  "  the  giant  of  cotton  speculation,  who  had  the  art  of  getting 
up  great  undertakings  on  small  means,  and  was  now  on  the  road 
to  England  to  turn,  with  General  Hamilton's  help,  their  cotton 
castles  in  the  air,  into  realities."  Captain  Hoskins  was  required 
to  point  out  the  originals  of  these  two  sketches,  and  did  so.     All 


436  ACHILLE  MITRAT. 

who  were  not  sea-sick  and  remained  upon  deck,  soon  became 
acquainted.  Most  of  them  were  English  and  American  mer 
chants,  and  some  —  British  officers  going  home  from  Canada. 
Achille  Murat,  second  son  of  the  King  of  Naples,  was  also  on 
board ;  he  had  quit  his  South  Carolinian  cotton  plantation  to  go 
to  Europe  and  regulate  the  affairs  of  his  mother,  Queen  Caroline, 
recently  deceased  at  Florence.  It  will  be  remembered  that  this 
lady,  who  lived  long  in  Trieste,  and  afterwards  in  Florence,  had 
yielded  to  Louis  Philippe  all  claim  upon  the  Chateau  de  Neuilly, 
for  a  rent  of  800,000  francs,  to  descend  to  her  sons.  Murat  was 
a  good-natured,  jovial  fellow,  who  had  forgotten  all  about  his 
princely  youth,  and  gave  promise  of  being  enormously  fat,  fatter 
than  Lablache.  The  monopoly  of  the  conversation  was  held  by 
the  British  officers,  and  their  favorite  topics  were  Wellington  and 
Waterloo.  Murat  listened  attentively,  and  then  broke  out  sud- 
denly with  the  assertion  that,  had  his  father  led  the  French  Cav- 
alry at  Waterloo,  he  would  have  eaten  up  the  Marquis  of  Angle- 
sea  and  his  troops,  and  won  the  fight.  This  was  the  usual  end  of 
the  discussion.  Then  Murat  would  walk  up  and  down  with  his 
hands  behind  his  back,  like  his  uncle,  and  finally  go  to  the  British 
officers  and  say,  "  Allons,  messieurs  ;  buvons  un  coup  a  la  bonne 
amitie." — The  British  Queen  lost  the  race  by  22  hours. 

Daily  intercouse  with  General  Hamilton  made  me  acquainted 
with  his  projects  about  the  prices  of  cotton.  Trusting  to  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  and  the  financial  capacity  of  its  Presi- 
dent, Nicholas  Biddle,  to  form  a  committee  in  some  central  point 
for  the  cotton-growing  states,  who  should  keep  acquainted  with 
the  condition  of  the  European  cotton  markets,  the  consumption, 
stock,  etc. ;  and  also  secure  all  the  crops,  so  that  there  could  be 
no  doubt  as  to  the  result,  the  planters  were  to  be  informed  of 
the  effect  of  the  condition  of  the  markets  upon  the  relative  worth 
of  cotton ;  and  those  who  were  not  willing  to  sell  at  the  stated 
price,  should  receive  advances  from  the  bank,  and  give  the  sale  to 
the  committee's  agents.  By  this  means  it  was  hoped  to  make 
prices  regular  and  steady.  I  doubted  the  feasibility  of  this  plan  , 
but  I  could  not  refuse  Hamilton's  offer  to  be  the  head  of  this  com- 


DETERMINE  TO  RETURN  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES.     43*7 

mittee,  as  he  expressed  so  much  confidence  in  my  ability.  That, 
however,  was  to  be  settled  on  our  return  to  the  States  ;  for  I  had 
determined  to  go  back  to  New  Orleans,  being  convinced  that  no 
man  but  myself,  especially  no  bank-committee  could  carry  on  the 
liquidation.  We  determined  the  day  of  our  return,  and  I  went 
to  Paris  to  pass  a  few  weeks  with  my  family. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

LAST   VISIT  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Return  to  America  by  way  of  England — Attempt  there  to  grasp  at  and  seize 
a  shadow — The  intended  rejection  by  the  house  of  Hottinguer  &  Co.,  at 
Paris,  of  the  bills  of  the  United  States  Bank,  is  communicated  to  me  before- 
hand, when  taking  leave,  by  Mr.  Hottinguer  himself — An  interesting 
acquaintanceship  formed  on  the  way  to  Boulogne — I  embark  at  Liverpool 
on  board  of  the  steamer  Liverpool  Packet,  which  brings  over  the  first 
protest  of  the  drafts  on  the  Hottinguer  firm — Arrival  in  New  York — Gen- 
eral effect  of  Hottinguer's  measures — The  Uuited  States  Bank  suspends 
specie  payments,  and  so  gives  the  signal  for  other  banks  to  do  the  same — 
Dissolution  of  the  project  which  had  been  rejected  by  General  Hamilton — 
I  resolve  to  bid  the  West  a  final  farewell,  and  to  try  my  fortune,  in  the  to 
me,  as  yet,  unknown  East — I  return  to  Europe  in  the  packet-ship  England 
— Remarkable  career  of  Captain  Williams — London  and  Paris — The 
establishment  of  a  commercial  company  in  Venice  draws  me  to  that  city 
on  an  express  invitation  from  the  parties  concerned — A  sad  year  in  my 
life — My  acquaintanceship  with  the  painter  Nerly  is  my  best  consolation — 
I  visit  Trieste  in  hope  of  better  fortune. 

The  time  for  my  departure  arrived,  and  the  night  before,  I 
called  upon  Mr.  Henry  Hottinguer,  now  head  of  the  firm.  Said 
he,  "  You  will  take  back  with  you  a  bit  of  news  that  will  astonish 
the  good  people  there."  "  What  is  it  ?"  said  I.  "  That  to-mor- 
row morning  we  shall  let  the  paper  of  the  United  States  Bank  be 
protested."  "  That  is  an  astonishing  item."  "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  it 
will  do  more  than  surprise  them ;  it  will  terrify  them."  "  And  the 
amount  I"  I  asked.     "  Some  millions  of  francs,"  was  the  answer. 

He  now  told  me  that  further  connection  with  the  Bank  was 
impossible,  inasmuch  as  it  had  surpassed  the  limit  given  by  his 
firm  for  advances  on  cotton  and  credits.  The  understanding 
between  his  firm  and  the  Barings  removed  all  doubt  about  the 


NICHOLAS  BIDDLE.  489 

worth  of  American  paper  sent  to  him  direct  from  Philadelphia,  or 
by  the  Bank  Agent  in  London,  Samuel  Jaudon,  as  guarantees  for 
the  enormous  advances.  As  long  as  his  firm  had  felt  secure,  they 
had  been  ready  to  support  the  bank  operations  with  cash  and 
credit ;  but  the  moment  of  distrust  had  arrived.  The  cause  of  all 
this  was  the  limitless  vanity  of  Nicholas  Biddle,  who  two  years 
before  had,  by  prudence  and  clearness  saved  American  credit,  in 
the  crisis  of  1836-7,  and  the  American  mercantile  world  from 
ruin.  The  gratitude  of  the  houses  thus  saved  was  limitless,  and 
Biddle  was  always  received  with  joy  in  New  York,  and  through- 
out the  States  he  was  hailed  as  the  greatest  financier  of  the  day, 
and  the  Savior  of  commerce.  The  height  to  which  he  mounted 
made  him  dizzy :  he  fancied  that  his  popularity  and  his  moneyed 
influence  could  lift  him  to  the  presidential  chair.  To  win  the 
South,  he  made  enormous  advances  to  the  cotton  planters.  His 
last  measure  for  popularity  was  this :  there  was  no  American 
holder  of  the  whole  $5,000,000  loan  to  the  State  of  Mississippi. 
Planters  are  naturally  unpunctual,  and  this  begot  public  distrust. 
Then  Biddle  took  the  whole  loan,  reckoning  on  his  influence  and 
the  indorsement  of  his  bank  to  procure  money  from  the  capitalist. 
When  he  saw,  however,  that  he  had  reckoned  without  his  host,  he 
determined  to  offer  a  part  of  it  to  Hottinguer  &  Co.,  as  equiva- 
lent for  the  Bank  exchanges.  The  French  firm,  however,  already 
a  little  nervous,  had  resolved  to  get  rid  of  the  whole  burden,  to 
let  the  Bank  paper  be  protested,  and  to  send  back  the  Mississippi 
paper.  The  news  of  this  soon  reached  New  York,  but  Biddle  and 
his  friends  treated  it  as  a  bagatelle. 

I  went  by  Boulogne  to  England,  and  in  the  coupee  of  the  dili- 
gence I  met  a  well-looking  man,  somewhat  forward  in  manner. 
The  more  we  conversed  the  more  I  liked  him.  There  was  no 
circumstance  about  which  he  could  not  talk  well ;  no  Parisian  of 
whom  he  had  not  some  trait  to  describe  or  anecdote  to  tell,  wit- 
tily and  piquantly.  He  was  equally  informed  as  to  the  state  of 
parties,  and  interested  me  very  much.  He  had  many  curious 
details  of  persons  high  in  place,  as  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  Eng- 
lish Ambassador,  Baron  James  Rothschild,  and  other  notables  of 
the  Parisian  Jockey  Club,  on  the  Boulevarde  Montmartre.     As 


440  PACKET  SHIP  ENGLAND. 

we  neared  Boulogne,  I  expressed  a  hope  that  he  was  going  to 
England.  "  No,"  he  said,  "  I  am  to  wait  at  Boulogne."  "  For 
some  high  acquaintance  V  I  asked.  "  No,"  he  said,  "  for  my 
tradesmen,  who  are  coming  to  offer  me  goods  very  cheaply."  He 
saw,  perhaps,  some  astonishment  in  my  face,  and  said,  "  You  are 
astonished  that  I  should  know  so  well  all  the  distinguished  people 
of  Paris.  It  is  easily  explained — I  am  their  tailor."  "  What,"  I 
said,  "  Monsieur  Blain,  rue  d' Amboise  f  "  Yes,"  he  answered, 
"  and  I  see  that  you  have  heard  of  me ;  I  am  worth  talking  about, 
am  I  not  V  I  assented,  and  never  having  met  so  amiable  a  tailor, 
I  invited  him  to  sup  with  me  at  Boulogne,  which  invitation  he 
accepted.  As  soon  as  I  reached  London,  I  paid  a  short  visit  to 
the  Barings,  and  then  on  to  Liverpool  to  the  steamer.  I  found 
General  Hamilton  on  board,  and  in  fifteen  days  we  reached  New 
Yor  \.  At  Sandy  Hook,  the  pilot  informed  us  that  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States  had  failed.  As  soon  as  I  had  set  foot  on  shore, 
[  saw  that  the  Bank  was  the  topic  of  universal  conversation,  and 
that  confidence  in  Biddle  was  gone.  Mr.  Wilder  said,  that  the 
difficulty  was  but  temporary,  and  that  the  papers  sent  back  by 
Hottinguer,  would  all  be  paid,  as  equivalents  were  now  on  their 
way  from  Havre  here. 

I  had  at  once  informed  the  Citizens'  Bank,  New  Orleans,  of  my 
return,  and  my  willingness  to  aid  them  in  the  liquidation,  if  they 
desired  it,  and  would  secure  me  my  personal  freedom.  I  waited 
for  the  answer  a  month,  and  then  learned  that  the  two  creditors 
who  had  imprisoned  me  in  New  Orleans,  were  on  their  way  to 
attach  me  again  in  New  York.  I  was  advised  to  go  to  Canada 
or  Europe,  and  chose  the  latter,  as  Hamilton's  project  could  now 
come  to  nothing. 

The  packet  ship  England,  Captain  Wait,  in  which  I  sailed,  was 
lost  upon  her  next  voyage,  and  left  no  trace.  The  fate  of  sea- 
faring men  is  peculiar  and  often  inexplicable.  I  have  often  recalled 
Wieland's  line, 

"  What  hand  shall  guide  us  through  this  gloom  ?" 

My  friend  Adam  Hodgson,  of  whom  I  have  often  spoken,  had 
visited  the  United  States,  and  returned  in  the  Albion,  Captain 


LOSS  OF  THE  SHIP  ALBION.  441 

Williams.  The  ship  was  the  best  of  packets;  the  Captain  the 
best  sailor,  and  the  most  agreeable  man  in  the  world,  and  Mr. 
Hodgson  was  so  delighted,  that  as  a  souvenir,  he  sent  Captain 
Williams  a  splendid  copy  of  Falconer's  Shipwreck.  The  Captain 
thanked  him,  but  his  countenance  fell  as  he  said,  "  I  wish  you  had 
chosen  some  other  book.  I  have  never  seen  this  but  with  a 
feeling  of  painful  recollection  of  my  poor  father,  who  was  lost  at 
sea,  and  I  have  always  had  a  presentiment  that  the  same  fate 
would  be  my  own."  One  year  after,  the  ship,  her  master,  crew, 
and  passengers,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  were  lost  on  the  coast 
of  Kildare.  One  of  these  exceptions  was  a  consumptive  Phila- 
delphian  named  Evans,  who  had  never  left  his  berth  since  he  got 
on  board.  He  was  torn  by  the  waves  from  the  shattered  ship, 
and  borne  towards  the  rocks  upon  the  shore,  passed  twenty -two 
hours  in  the  water,  and  was  found  at  last  nearly  naked.  Yet  two 
years  ago,  he  was  living  and  in  good  health. 

In  London  I  visited  only  Messrs.  Bernouilli  and  Barings,  from 
whom  I  got  letters  of  recommendation  to  various  Mediterranean 
ports  ;  to  Grant  &  Co.  in  Leghorn,  and  their  branches  in  Genoa 
and  Trieste.  Then  I  went  to  Paris,  where  I  spent  the  winter  in 
endeavoring  by  correspondence  to  arrange  a  settled  future. 
James  and  John  Grant,  the  heads  of  the  firm,  were  five  or  six 
years  older  than  I,  and,  having  known  me  in  Leghorn,  were  the 
more  ready  to  help  me,  and  to  look  about  for  some  proper  posi- 
tion for  me  ;  no  easy  matter — for  clerks  past  sixty  years  of  age 
are  seldom  sought  after.  The  Grants'  establishment  had  stood 
for  forty  years  creditably  and  honorably.  The  friendship  of  the 
Barings,  which  they  had  always  possessed,  was  the  cause  of  their 
extended  business,  and  also  the  immense  American  consignments 
that  they  had  received  ;  added  to  which  was  their  own  local  influ- 
ence and  cleverness.  These  worthy  men  possessed  little  or  none  of 
that  mercantile  elasticity  which  enables  one  to  rise  from  under 
the  pressure  that  must  often  be  felt  in  a  forty  years'  mercantile 
course.  A  combination  of  lucky  circumstances  had  given  the  firm 
an  unexpectedly  high  rank  among  Mediterranean  houses ;  but,  as 
soon  as  the  luck  changed,  they  sank  back  to  their  old  position,  and 
lost  much  of  their  influence.     What  induced  me  to  cultivate  their 

19* 


442  DISAPPOINTMENT  IN  VENICE. 

friendship  was,  that  they  were  the  best-informed  people  about 
houses  of  their  own  kind  and  the  manner  of  establishing  them — an 
object  never  to  be  lost  sight  of,  and  which  is  the  great  essential  to 
the  merchant.  If  he  gain  it  sooner  than  he  expected,  he  can  either 
rest  or  extend  his  views ;  and  if  he  choose  the  latter,  he  must 
think  no  more  of  falling  back,  but  ever  go  steadily  on.  The  old 
rule  :  "  that  if  one  rope  break,  another  must  be  lying  ready," — 
holds  good  here.  Hence  comes  the  necessity,  in  the  present  age 
of  commerce,  to  dismiss  the  "  granny-system"  of  our  fathers. 
When  all  goes  forward,  man  can  neither  delay  nor  pause  alto- 
gether. 

The  Messrs.  Grant  put  me  in  the  way  of  getting  the  secretary- 
ship of  a  new  commercial  association  in  Venice.  A  letter  from 
Messrs.  Holmes  &  Co.,  in  that  city,  informed  me  that  they  awaited 
my  presence  to  give  me  positive  information  ;  so  I  quitted  Paris, 
and  by  the  Simplon  and  Milan  I  reached  Venice  with  letters  to 
the  directors  of  the  society.  I  met  with  a  most  polite  and  friendly 
reception,  particularly  from  Francesco  Zucchelli  and  Giacomo 
Levy.  At  last,  one  of  the  directors  told  me  in  strict  confidence, 
that  the  post  had  already  been  given  away  even  while  I  was  still 
in  Paris,  although  Mr.  Holmes  was  utterly  ignorant  of  the  fact. 
The  choice  had  been  a  good  one,  Mr.  H.  B.  Bremer,  formerly  con- 
nected with  the  house  of  Buschek,  in  Trieste,  who  had  been  backed 
by  the  house  of  Baur  in  Altona.  It  was  long  before  I  found  the 
key  to  the  mystification  practised  towards  me.  It  was  that  by 
the  systematic  organization  of  such  a  society,  as  the  projected 
one,  the  directors  themselves  knew  nothing,  but  that  the  lead  was 
to  be  taken  by  an  experienced  business  man,  to  import  cotton 
from  the  United  Staies,  and  sugar  from  Havana  and  Brazil ;  and 
that  the  places  were  to  be  given  to  the  superfluous  clerks  of  the 
various  merchants  engaged  in  the  association.  As  there  were 
many  candidates,  the  directors,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Holmes, 
agreed  that  the  candidates  for  book-keeper,  cashier,  &c,  should 
be  named  by  their  employers,  but  that  the  business  man  was  to 
be  looked  for  by  all  the  directors.  Among  these,  Mr.  Friederich 
Oerle,  from  Augsburg,  but  a  resident  of  Venice,  procured  from 


THE  ARTIST,  NERLY.  443 

Messrs.  Bauer,  in  Trieste,  the  successful  candidate.  Thus  again 
some  months  were  wasted — a  great  loss  for  an  old  man. 

The  little  means  which  I  had  in  Venice  were  growing  smaller 
every  day,  and  I  could  find  nothing  to  do.  I  was  ready  to  take 
anything :  I  perfectly  knew  four  languages,  and  I  was  at  last 
reduced  to  make  translations  of  MSS.,  from  and  into  English,  for 
the  monks  of  San  Lorenzo,  who  had  received  lately  an  English 
inheritance.  This  supported  me  for  four  months,  and  then  the 
need  returned.  For  months,  I  lived  on  bread  and  cheese,  with  a 
couple  of  glasses  of  vile  red  wine,  a-day.  Mournful  as  was  my 
condition,  the  thought  of  suicide  which  used  to  tempt  me,  never 
came  to  me  now.  The  Venetian  air  breathed  repose,  and  a  sort 
of  sympathy  to  the  unfortunate ;  the  still  lagoons  by  moonlight 
were  of  themselves  a  consolation.  Seated  alone,  beneath  a  willow 
on  the  piazetta,  with  my  eyes  on  the  blue  cloudless  heaven,  I  felt 
at  peace,  for  I  knew  that  if  this  sorrow  were  the  meed  of  many 
a  folly,  many  a  heedless  step,  it  was  yet  not  the  punishment  of 
dishonor. 

In  the  recollections  of  this  time,  the  pleasantest  is,  of  the  hours 
passed  with  my  honest,  kind  friend,  Nerly,  and  his  amiable  wife. 
He  who  visited  Venice,  without  seeing  Nerly  in  his  studio,  has 
sinned  against  Art.  Nerly  was  born  in  Erfurt ;  where  he  fell  in 
with  that  great  friend  of  art,  Baron  von  Rumohr,  who  saw  his 
talent  for  painting,  and  sent  him  to  Italy.  He  soon  succeeded  in 
Rome,  where  he  had  settled.  He  first  became  known  by  some 
pictures  painted  for  Thorwaldsen ;  and  orders  soon  came  from  the 
highest  sources,  Ludwig  of  Bavaria  and  others.  He  was  the 
darling  of  all  the  German  painters  in  Rome  and  its  neighborhood, 
who  called  him  their  General,  and  surrounded  him  in  his  rides  in 
the  Campagna. 

On  such  occasions  he  wore  a  hussar  cloak  and  a  shako  a  la 
Poniatowski.  I  saw  him  first  in  the  caves  of  Cervara  near  Rome, 
frequented  by  him  and  his  companions  in  the  year  1835.  I  saw 
him  then,  but  I  did  not  make  his  acquaintance  until  five  years 
later  at  Mr.  Holmes'.  There  he  fell  in  love  with  a  gentleman's 
mistress, — the  gentleman  being  the  Marquis  Marruzzi,  a  large 
proprietor  in  St.  Mark's  Place.     The  lady  had  seen  his  picture, 


444  A  LITTLE  EMPLOYMENT. 

and  wanted  to  know  him.  She  suddenly  discovered  a  talent  for 
painting,  and  her  protector  procured  Nerly  to  instruct  her.  He 
fell  in  love  with  her,  and  the  result  was  marriage.  The  great 
painter,  Robert  Fleury,  in  Paris,  got  his  wife,  a  lady  of  high  rank, 
in  the  same  way.  In  Nerly's  studio  I  forgot  some  of  my  mis- 
ery. The  pictures  of  the  celebrated  Canaletti,  renowned  for  his 
Venetian  scenes,  have  deservedly  obtained  high  praise  ;  but  he  is 
surpassed  by  the  English  Stanfield  and  by  Nerly.  These  two 
stand  side  by  side  for  truthfulness  with  Landseer  ;  for,  as  his  ani- 
mals appear  to  live,  so  their  groups  and  landscapes  seem  to  be 
nature  herself.  Nerly's  best  picture,  copied  by  him  four  or  five 
times,  is  "  Titian's  departure  from  his  birthplace,  and  his  separa- 
tion from  his  relatives."  It  is  now  in  Lord  Ashburton's  posses- 
sion, at  the  Grange  in  Hampshire. 

The  summer  of  1840  was  hot.  I  had  a  very  good  little  room 
in  the  quarter  of  the  Holy  Apostles,  near  the  Propaganda  and  the 
Rialto,  where  I  did  not  suffer  from  heat  nor  from  the  cries  of  the ' 
gondoliers  on  the  canal.  On  the  15th  of  August,  at  noon,  there  was 
a  heavy  thunder-storm,  and  a  tremendous  crash  led  me  to  sup 
pose  that  the  lightning  had  struck  somewhere  in  my  neighborhood. 
I  had  hardly  recovered  when  in  rushed  my  boot-black,  saying  that 
the  lightning  had  struck  the  Propaganda.  "  Ebbene"  said  he,  "  la 
Saetta  sapete  cosa  vuol  dire  /"  "  No,"  I  answered.  "  La  Saetta 
vuol  dire  quaranta  cinque.  E  wwo."  He  meant  that  the  light- 
ning in  the  lottery  almanack  bears  the  number  45 — that's  one. 
"To-day,"  said  he,  "then,  is  the  15th — that's  two  ;  and  I  am,"  he 
continued,  "just  39  years  old — that's  three."  "  Very  good,"  said 
I ;  but  how  does  it  concern  me  V  "  Now,"  said  he,  "  if  we  take 
a  lottery-ticket  with  the  three  numbers,  15,  39,  45,  we  shall  be 
sure  to  draw  a  prize.  Please  give  me  a  scudo"  The  fellow  spent 
all  he  could  get  in  the  lottery,  leaving  wife  and  children  to  take 
care  of  themselves.  I  refused  him  the  money,  and  the  next  day 
the  whole  three  numbers  turned  up  prizes. 

As  the  winter  approached,  my  fate  looked  darker  and  darker, 
but  at  last  a  little  ray  of  light  appeared.  Conversation  generally 
fell  upon  the  costliness  and  worthlessness  of  Venetian  hotels,  and 
it  was  proposed  among  the  merchants  to  form  a  Tontine.     I  ob- 


AID  PROMISED.  445 

f 
lained  the  formation  of  this  association  ;  chose  the  ground  ;  was 
introduced  to  a  good  architect  by  the  advocate  Mengaldo,  and 
made  the  proper  calculations ;  all  which  kept  me  busy  for  six 
months.  When  the  count  was  prepared,  I  took  it  to  Francesco 
Zuchelli,  Giacomo  Levy,  Mr.  Mondolfo,  and  other  capitalists. 
Mr.  Mondolfo**)  brother,  who  was  interested  in  the  Revolteila 
hotel,  in  Truske,  and  others,  was  informed  of  the  affair,  and  he 
proposed  to  unite  the  two  associations.  But  as  people  wanted  to 
see  the  affair  successful  before  they  subscribed,  and  much  time 
was  being  lost,  I  went  to  Trieste. 

I  knew  nobody  there  but  Grant,  Brother  &  Co. ;  but  a  Ham- 
burg friend  introduced  me  to  Messrs.  Meticke  &  Prey,  who  pro- 
mised to  aid  me,  and  did  so. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

MY  JOURNEY  TO  THE  BLACK  SEA. 

Propositions  of  the  house  of  Grant,  Brothers  &  Co.  to  secure  their  claims 
against  the  house  of  James  and  John  Cortazzi,  at  Odessa — The  puerility  of 
these  gentlemen — I  set  out,  and  travel  to  Galatz,  by  way  of  Vienna  and  the 
Danube,  descending  the  latter  river — The  baths  of  Mehadia — Galatz — Con- 
tinuation of  my  journey  to  Odessa  by  land,  in  company  with  one  of  the 
many  Princes  Galitzin — Jassy — The  Russian  Consul  General  at  that  place 
— Son  of  the  tragic  writer,  Kotzebue — The  Quarantine  of  Skulieni — Kits- 
chenew — Potemkin's  grave — Odessa — James  Cortazzi — The  President  of 
the  Tribunal  of  Commerce — A  Cossack  named  Gamaley,  Cortazzi's  friend 
and  debtor,  serves  me,  at  last,  as  a  means  for  the  liquidation  of  the  debt  to 
the  house  of  Grant  &  Co. — The  passport  system  in  the  southern  Russian 
ports — Prince  Woronzow — The  travelling  Yankee,  Codman ;  the  first  only 
half-witted  American  I  ever  met  with  in  my  life. 

I  had  been  but  a  few  weeks  in  Trieste  when  the  Messrs.  Grant 
requested  me  to  go  for  them  to  Odessa,  on  the  Black  Sea  ;  as  nei- 
ther Mr.  Hay  nor  Mr.  More,  members  of  the  firm,  were  willing  to 
go — one  for  household  reasons ;  the  other  for  fear  of  being  kept 
too  long. 

Messrs.  James  and  John  Cortazzi  of  Odessa,  who  were  connected 
with  the  Grants,  in  Trieste,  Leghorn,  and  Genoa,  had  received  very 
heavy  advances  for  consignments  of  wheat  taken  by  the  Grants. 
The  advances  sometimes  passed  the  assigned  limits — the  ship- 
ments of  wheat  never  ;  so  that  the  Cortazzis  soon  got  heavily  into 
debt.  After  this,  came  failures  in  sending  shipments.  At  last, 
the  Grants  received  an  order  to  insure  the  Cortazzis'  ship  Alex 
ander,  and  her  cargo,  for  a  heavy  sum.  This  was  done  ;  but  the 
ship  delayed,  and  delayed,  and  finally  ceased  to  be  heard  of,  until 
Mr.  Grant,  one  day,  read  in  a  Marseilles  newspaper  this  announce- 


PESTH  AND  THE  FATR.  447 

menr,  "  Arrived.  The  Russian  ship  Alexander,  with  wheat  to 
Messrs.  Archias  &  Co."  He  wrote  to  Marseilles,  and  was 
answered  that  the  vessel  had  been  sent  by  the  Cortazzis  ;  and  that 
Messrs.  Archias  had  returned  acceptances  for  more  than  her  full 
value.  Letter  after  letter  went  to  Odessa,  but  no  answer  was 
returned.  John  Cortazzi,  who  had  large  credit  with  the  London 
corn-exchange,  had  received  heavy  advances  for  supplies  of  provi- 
sions :  Mr.  John  Hornley,  head  of  that  Liverpool  firm,  had  mar- 
ried a  Cortazzi :  John  Cortazzi's  wife  was  a  Miss  Hornley,  and  by 
this  alliance  he  had  got  into  the  confidence  of  the  great  corn-mer- 
chants, particularly  Joseph  and  Charles  Sturge  of  Birmingham. 
To  see  what  could  be  saved  for  them,  the  Grants  now  sent  me  to 
Odessa. 

As  soon  as  I  got  the  necessary  papers,  I  started  with  the  Vienna 
courier.  These  papers,  my  passport,  and  bank-notes  for  a  hundred 
gilders,  were  in  a  pocket-book  in  the  left  breast-pocket  of  my  coat. 
I  sat  next  the  courier,  who  asked  for  my  passport,  which  I  gave 
him,  and  then  put  back  the  pocket-book.  When  we  reached 
Bruck  I  missed  it,  and  all  search  was  vain  ;  for  the  street  was  filled 
with  Bohemian  musicians  returning  from  the  annual  market.  I 
reported  to  the  police  in  Bruck,  and  wrote  to  Messrs.  Grant  that 
I  would  wait  at  Vienna  for  new  papers.  Fortunately  I  had  my 
United  States  passport. 

I  was  glad  of  the  delay  in  Vienna,  which  I  had  never  seen  be- 
fore, and  which  is  a  delightful  residence  for  strangers.  I  took 
a  steamer  down  the  Danube  to  go  by  Galatz,  Jassy,  Bessarabia, 
and  Russia  Minor,  to  Odessa.  The  same  evening  we  reached 
Presburg.  I  could  not  pass  the  battle-ground  of  Wagram,  by 
which  Napoleon  won  a  bride  from  the  ancient  House  of  Haps- 
burg,  without  recalling  those  troublous  days.  But  the  rapid 
change  of  -scene  made  me  forget  Napoleon  and  Wagram  long  be- 
fore we  got  to  Presburg.  At  Pesth  we  found  the  annual  fair ; 
the  sun  was  burning,  and  the  deck  of  the  steamer  packed  with 
passengers.  One  of  the  directors,  who  was  on  board,  refused  to 
push  the  speed  of  the  boat,  because  it  would  need  more  coal  than 
usual ;  and  we  did  not  reach  Pesth  until  sunset,  and  saw  the  fair. 
There  were  at  least  20,000  strangers,  and  15,000  wagons  laden 


448  THE  BATHS  OF  MEHADTA. 

with  all  sorts  of  things.  There  were  no  traces  of  the  inundation 
of  1838,  which  had  destroyed  2,000  houses,  and  which  occurred 
again  three  years  later.  We  saw  the  preparation  for  the  iron 
bridge  of  1,500  feet,  from  Pesth,  so  often  projected  by  the  Vien- 
nese banker,  Baron  Sina. 

Early  next  morning,  after  a  visit  to  dusty  Ofen,  we  went  on. 
Among  the  passengers  was  a  Prince  Galitzin,  with  his  friend  and 
secretary  Wailly,  a  young  French  literateur,  son  of  the  Professor, 
and  author  of  a  celebrated  grammar.  We  three  formed  a  coterie, 
as  most  of  the  others  were  Polish  Jews.  The  young  prince  lived 
in  Paris,  and  was  travelling  now  because  all  Russian  subjects  are 
obliged  to  return  every  two  years,  and  because  he  had  a  rich 
uncle  living  near  Moscow,  whose  heir  he  was. 

We  staid  a  day  to  unload  at  Alt  Orsova,  which  gave  me  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  Baths  of  Mehadia.  They  are  on  the 
shores  of  the  Czerna,  about  five  miles  off,  and  the  road  leads 
through  the  rich  and  charming  meadows  of  the  Danube,  sprinkled 
with  ruins  of  an  ancient  aqueduct  with  arches  35  feet  high.  The 
village  of  Mehadia  is  in  one  of  the  lowest  valleys  in  Europe, 
where  Trajan's  aqueduct- arches  still  are  seen.  You  bathe  in  what 
is  left  of  the  Roman  temples  to  Hercules  and  Esculapius,  and  the 
walks  are  full  of  taste,  and  beautifully  picturesque ;  and  he  who 
does  not  visit  it  when  he  can,  loses  a  great  pleasure. 

In  the  morning,  flat  boats  were  ready  to  take  us  to  New  Orsova, 
and  to  the  Iron  Gate,  through  whose  tall,  rocky  sides  the  turbu- 
lent Danube,  shrunk  to  200  feet  in  width,  must  pour  his  impatient 
floods,  and  where  great  care  and  skill  are  needed  on  the  part  of  the 
boatmen.  On  the  other  side  of  the  gate  we  found  another  steam- 
boat, which  carried  us  to  Galatz,  by  Widdin,  Giurgewo,  and  Silis- 
tria,  and  Ibra'ily,  famous  for  its  grain.  Here  I  hoped  to  find  a  decent 
conveyance  to  Jassy  ;  but  the  Russian  post-coach  is  a  basket  on 
four  wheels,  in  which  your  trunk  must  serve  as  seat.  Eight  horses 
about  the  size  of  Newfoundland  dogs  were  harnessed  to  this.  The 
driver  was  fastened  on  somewhere  in  front,  and,  having  paid  in 
advance  for  the  journey  of  thirty  leagues  to  Jassy,  and  taken  a  re- 
ceipt, away  we  went  at  a  gallop,  the  postillion  never  looking 
round.     When  the  horses  are  used  up,  more  are  instantly  caught 


QUARANTINE  AT  JASSY.  449 

from  the  steppes  and  harnessed,  and  the  gallop  goes  ever  forward. 
Your  only  refreshment  is  a  glass  of  water,  begged  in  the  hut  of 
some  Moldavian  Jew.  Woe  to  you  if  you  speak  no  Russian,  for 
the  postillion .  speaks  nothing  else.  An  Englishman,  the  second 
time  he  made  this  journey,  fired  a  pistol  at  his  postillion's  ear,  as 
a  substitute  for  Russian,  when  he  wanted  him  to  stop.  Prince 
Galitzin,  who  had  brought  his  own  carriage,  was  obliged  with 
twenty-four  horses. 

A  letter  from  Mr.  Grant  introduced  me  to  the  British  Consul 
Cunningham,  a  former  clerk  of  Messrs.  Grant.  When  he  came 
to  see  me  off,  and  looked  at  my  basket  and  eight  ponies,  he  said, 
"  By  God,  no !  "  That  will  not  do.  You  must  take  my  little 
travelling  carriage."  He  sent  at  once  for  this — a  nice  commo- 
dious carriage  for  two  people,  and  expressed  his  intention  of 
going  on  one  stage  with  me,  to  see  that  I  got  my  relay.  "  Why," 
I  said,  "  I  have  a  receipt."  "  Yes,"  he  answered.  "  Yet  if  a  go- 
vernment courier  should  appear,  and  want  horses,  and  there  were 
none  in  the  stable,  he  would  just  coolly  take  yours.  That  sort  of 
affair,  however,  is  not  done  to  a  British  Consul,  thanks  to  Lord 
Palmerston."  Accordingly,  he  accompanied  me  for  a  couple  of 
leagues,  and  then  went  back  to  Galatz. 

Three  leagues  further  I  was  overtaken  by  Galitzin,  and  he  made 
me  exchange  seats  with  his  Secretary,  who,  being  a  young  man, 
he  said,  could  better  support  fatigue.  In  the  evening  we  reached 
Jassy,  and  had  our  passports  viseed  by  the  Russian  Consul-Gene- 
ral,  who  was  son  of  the  dramatist  Kotzebue,  and  had  a  pretty  wife 
from  Manheim.  There  was  a  quarantine  of  fourteen  days  at 
Skulieni,  two  leagues  from  Jassy  ;  but  people  were  allowed  to 
spend  ten  days  of  it  at  the  last  named  place.  He  told  us  that  his 
house  was  always  open  to  us.  He  gave  us  a  dinner  at  his  country 
seat,  and  two  parties  at  his  town  house.  I  pleased  him  by  my 
familiarity  with  his  father's  plays ;  and  when  I  left  he  gave  a 
sketch  of  the  monument  at  Manheim,  made  by  his  wife.  He 
wrote  upon  this — "  Souvenir  cTAmitie.  I  arrived  at  Skulieni  in 
the  evening,  during  a  frightful  rain,  and  was  told  that  the  Laza- 
retto door  was  closed.  I  said  to  one  of  the  officers,  who  spoke 
French,  that  it  could  make  no  difference  whether  I  were  received 


450  POTEMKTN'S  MONUMENT 

now  or  in  the  morning.  He  consulted  with  the  others,  and  then, 
shrugging  his  shoulders,  said  he  could  not  break  the  rule.  No 
inn  for  shelter  was  in  the  neighborhood,  and  I  ran  the  risk  of  spend- 
ing the  night  in  the  rain.  When  Prince  Galitzin  came  up,  how- 
ever, his  influence  opened  the  doors  for  both. 

We  passed  into  the  visitation  room,  where  we  were  directed,  I 
first,  to  strip  to  shirt  and  trowsers,  and  to  pass  into  the  next  room. 
Here  I  found  four  or  five  colossal  Russian  officers,  and  as  many 
employes,  and  was  ordered  to  strip  altogether,  and,  in  a  state  of 
complete  nudity,  to  swear,  that  for  fourteen  days  I  had  approached 
neither  man  nor  woman  whom  I  suspected  to  have  the  plague ! 
This  oath  was  to  be  sworn  upon  the  cross  of  St.  Andrew,  which 
lay  upon  the  floor,  and,  with  some  little  anger,  I  turned  my  back 
to  the  officers  as  I  stooped  to  pick  it  up.  I  was  then  furnished 
with  clean  warm  water,  and  flannel,  linen  shirts,  drawers,  and 
a  nightgown,  and  shown  to  my  quarters.  My  young  prince, 
who  had  seen  this  form  of  an  oath,  swore  hotly  that  he  would 
never  submit;  but  prince  or  no  prince,  he  was  obliged  to  do 
it.  When  we  got  into  our  own  room,  we  burst  into  incon- 
trollable  laughter.     So  we  spent  our  four  days  of  quarantine. 

I  went  on  in  my  little  carriage  towards  Kischenew,  through 
woods  and  mountain  passes.  We  had  gone  up  some  seven  leagues 
without  any  sign  of  a  high  road  being  visible :  and  my  postillion 
was  perfectly  ignorant  of  the  country  and  the  way.  At  last,  I 
saw  in  the  distance  a  naked  hill,  crowned  by  a  monument,  and  with 
a  hut  at  its  base.  We  inquired  there,  and  learned  that  it  was 
here  that  Potemkin,  Catherine's  favorite,  lost  his  life  on  his  way 
from  the  Crimea  to  Jassy.  His  niece,  Princess  Branitzka,  who 
accompanied  him,  had  this  monument  erected.  It  was  said  that 
Catherine  had  poisoned  him ;  but  it  cannot  be  true,  for,  save  his 
niece,  he  was  alone.  How  much  does  the  recollection  of  Potem- 
kin's  former  greatness  teach  of  the  littleness  of  human  things, 
when  one  stands  in  this  barren  and  unvisited  desert  at  the  foot  of 
his  monument.  His  niece  would  have  perpetuated  his  memory 
by  this  monument,  forgetting  that  it  must  be  seen  to  be  known. 
Yet  here  now  lies  the  dust  of  one,  who  was  plotting  to  rob  his 
mighty  mistress  of  her  sceptre  and  her  crown. 


JAMES  CORTAZZI.  451 

I  recalled  a  journey  over  the  Alleghanies  in  1811  and  1812,  and 
as  then,  I  now  made  a  map  of  the  route  indicated  by  the  guardian 
of  the  monument,  with  a  lead  pencil,  on  a  bit  of  paper,  making  the 
cross-road  with  a  cross,  and  the  turn  off  with  a  semicircle,  and  so 
got  to  Kischenew  about  eight,  P.  M.  The  morning  view  of  this 
place  gave  me  an  idea  of  the  Russian  military  government.  All 
the  city  officers  were  military  men,  and  the  more  I  saw  of  them, 
the  more  my  heart  beat  for  the  free  air  of  America,  whose  civili- 
zation, though  left  to  grow  alone,  had  so  far  surpassed  that  founded 
by  Peter  the  Great.  Two  days  later  I  reached  Odessa,  and  got 
my  first  glimpse  of  the  Black  Sea,  through  incomparable  clouds 
of  dust. 

I  had  heard  of  Boulevard  de  Paris,  a  Rue,  and  a  Hdtel  Richelieu 
in  Odessa,  and  I  went  to  the  Hotel  St.  Petersbourg,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  French  named  streets.  Having  leased  my  empty 
rooms,  and  hired  my  furniture,  as  is  the  custom  here,  I  looked 
about  the  city.  I  soon  met  an  acquaintance,  Mr.  Peter  Poel  of 
Hamburgh,  whom  I  had  last  seen  in  Paris  in  1824,  who  had  mar- 
ried a  niece  of  the  Petersburg  banker  Stieglitz,  and  was  at  the 
head  of  a  branch  house  here.  He  could  scarcely  believe  his  eyes 
when  he  saw  me  in  Odessa.  When  I  told  him  my  business,  he 
invited  me  that  day  to  dinner,  where,  he  said,  I  would  meet  James 
Cortazzi,  and  make  arrangements  for  settling  my  business.  I  had 
formed  a  more  correct  opinion  of  Cortazzi  than  Mr.  Poel,  who  had 
known  him  many  years,  and  I  therefore  refused  the  invitation,  and 
visited  Cortazzi  the  next  morning.  He  had  heard  of  my  arrival 
at  Mr.  Poel's,  and  was  quite  embarrassed,  although  he  affected 
to  conceal  it  by  a  cavalier  manner.  I  asked  him  whether  he  was 
willing  to  pay  the  debt.  He  objected  to  moving  too  fast  or  slow 
in  the  matter  ;  he  would  talk  to  me  when  he  had  received  certain 
letters  from  England — say  in  a  week.  The  week  gone,  he  dis- 
appeared, had  gone  to  the  country,  his  clerks  said,  for  ten  days. 
So  passed  three  weeks  without  any  result.  In  the  meantime  I 
learned  that,  according  to  commercial  law  at  Odessa,  I  could  get 
a  judgment,  but  could  not  compel  payment.  A  merchant  could 
be  reduced  to  bankruptcy  only  when  he  refused  his  own  accept- 
ances, or  when  he  had  sold  drafts  upon  foreign  houses  which  should 


452  CORTAZZI  AND  OAMALEY. 

come  back  dishonored,  and  he  should  refuse  to  refund  expenses. 
In  these  two  cases,  if  he  cannot  instantly  satisfy  all  his  obligations, 
he  is  ipso  facto  bankrupt.  In  all  other  circumstances  he  is  simply 
a  debtor,  and  the  clearest  book-debt  cannot  break  him. 

Cortazzi  came  back  very  much  disinclined  for  an  interview. 
The  Cossack  President  of  the  Commercial  Court,  Gamaley,  was  a 
close  friend  of  Cortazzi,  as  well  as  his  debtor  for  20,000  rubles. 
I  did  not  expect  justice  from  him,  but  as  we  were  on  friendly 
terms  I  told  him  of  Cortazzi's  dishonest  course,  and  suggested 
that  I  should  esteem  him  quite  as  dishonest,  should  he  decide  in 
Cortazzi's  favor  in  case  of  a  suit.  He  spoke  accordingly  to  his 
creditor,  but  got  nothing  from  him  but  empty  promises  ;  I  deter- 
mined to  begin  my  suit,  only  there  were  no  lawyers  in  Odessa 
who  understood  their  profession.  But  I  myself  drew  up  in 
French,  as  was  allowed  in  Odessa,  a  memoir,  of  which  I  sent  a 
copy  to  every  member  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce.  When  the 
cause  was  heard,  it  was  decided  in  my  favor,  so  that  I  had  the 
judgment,  but  how  to  get  it  paid  by  this  mercantile  thief  I  knew  , 
not ;  but  my  acquaintance  with  Poel  helped  me  here.  Gamaley 
was  Poel's  debtor  precisely  to  the  amount  of  his  debt  to  Cortazzi, 
and  Poel  suggested  to  Gamaley  the  necessity  of  showing  me  at 
least  justice.  Gamaley  brought  me  a  proposal  from  Cortazzi 
which  I  sent  back,  as  I  did  also  the  second,  but  he  succeeded  at 
last  and  invited  me  to  meet  Cortazzi.  When  Cortazzi  said,  "  I 
will  sign  the  document  to-morrow,  there  is  my  hand  ;"  I  replied, 
"  The  pressure  of  an  honest  man's  hand  is  worth  something,  but 
you  have  deceived  me  so  often  that  I  will  trust- nothing  but  your 
signature."  As  he  drew  back  grumbling,  I  asked  Gamaley  if  he 
had  heard  what  I  said,  and  told  him  that  if  his  word,  already 
thrice  broken,  were  again  violated,  I  would  tell  the  whole  story 
upon  the  public  exchange.  I  had  chosen  the  right  way ;  both 
Gamaley  and  Cortazzi  were  rogues,  and  nothing  but  this  threat 
would  have  procured  the  signature  of  the  latter.  The  next  mor- 
ning Gamaley  requested  me  to  call  upon  him,  and  when  I  entered 
the  room  he  held  the  proposal  out  to  me  saying,  "  There,  my  dear 
friend,  is  what  you  wanted.  I  hope  you  are  now  content,  and 
that  you  will  confess  that  I  worked  well  for  you."    I  saw  Cortazzi's 


GENERAL  WORONZOW.  453 

signature,  but  the  document  still  lacked  Gamaley  as  witness.  I 
pointed  out  the  necessity  of  this,  and  he  signed. 

My  business  was  ended.  The  manner  in  which  the  Exchange 
at  Odessa  had  regarded  the  whole  affair  proved  that  Cortazzi,  like 
every  other  merchant  of  his  class,  had  taken  no  unusual  course  to 
get  out  of  his  difficulties,  and  that  he  had  lost  only  foreign  credit 
and  not  his  credit  at  Odessa.  People  congratulated  me,  saying 
that  1  was  the  first  creditor  who  had  ever  recovered  any  debt, 
except  from  foreign  exchange  and  paper.  That  I  had  taken  the 
best  course  was  proven  by  the  words  of  John  Cortazzi,  when  he 
visited  the  Grants  at  Trieste  on  his  return  from  England  nine 
months  later.  The  Grants  told  him  that  they  expected  very  little 
more  from  him.  "  You  may  esteem  yourselves  very  lucky,"  he 
said,  "  in  getting  what  you  did ;  for  if  Mr.  Nolte  had  not  fright- 
ened my  brother,  you  would  have  gotten  nothing." 

The  agents  of  the  Birmingham  house,  who  had  gone  to  see 
about  their  advances  to  Odessa,  wondered  how  I  could  have  gotten 
anything  from  such  a  nest  of  robbers. 

I  next  went  to  the  police  for  my  passport,  but  was  informed 
that  it  had  been  sent  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  that  I  must  wait  three 
months  in  Odessa  for  its  return  or  else  take  a  Russian  pass.  As 
this  would  have  been  useless  beyond  the  frontier,  I  called  on 
Prince  Woronzow  to  whom  Mr.  Poel  had  introduced  me,  and 
begged  his  help ;  and  he  gave  me  a  written  order  to  the  police 
for  a  search  after  my  passport,  which  was  found  at  last  in  a  chest. 
Ordinarily  they  are  not  returned  from  St.  Petersburg  for  three 
months. 

General  Woronzow,  commanding  the  army  of  the  Caucasus, 
was  now  in  his  sixty-fourth  year.  I  called  to  thank  him.  He  spoke 
English  as  well  as  if  he  had  studied  it  at  Oxford,  and  had  married 
his  first  wife,  Lady  Pembroke,  in  England.  On  my  introduction 
he  had  invited  me  to  a  soiree  at  his  palace  at  the  end  of  the 
Boulevard  de  Paris ;  and  now  to  another  at  his  hermitage  near 
Sevastopol.  At  this  time  the  Grand  Duchess  Helena,  daughter 
of  Prince  Paul  of  Wurtemburg,  lately  deceased  in  Paris,  and 
wife  of  the  Grand  Duke  Michael,  was  in  Odessa  on  her  way  to 
some  baths  in  the  Crimea.     The  princess  wanted  to  get  a  whole- 


454  AN  INQUISITIVE  YANKEE. 

sale  idea  of  the  commerce  of  Odessa,  and  ordered  all  the  wheat- 
laden  wagons  to  be  drawn  up  side  by  side  in  the  main  street. 
Thus  several  thousand  had  collected,  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the 
lady.  All  the  water  carts  also,  which  supplied  drinking  water  to 
the  city,  were  ordered  to  occupy  themselves  in  laying  the  dust. 
It  was  of  no  importance  that  the  market  was  in  want  of  wheat, 
and  the  citizens  in  want  of  water ;  they  had  to  wait  five  days, 
and  then  the  princess  arrived.  On  the  next  day  she  went  on 
board  the  fleet,  and  the  wagons  were  then  ordered  to  come  in 
and  unload,  and  the  water  carts  to  return  to  their  usual  business. 
When  the  owners  asked  for  compensation  for  their  six  days'  loss, 
they  were  sent  to  the  devil,  and  told  to  hold  their  tongues,  and 
this  is  Russian  justice. 

The  vessel  that  carried  the  princess,  brought  back,  on  its  re- 
turn, a  young  American  named  Codman,  in  charge  of  the  police. 
He  was  from  Marblehead,  Mass.,  and  had  come  out  as  supercargo. 
He  had  excited  the  attention  of  the  police  by  his  habit  of  asking 
questions  and  popping  the  answers  down  in  a  note-book,  etc. ; 
and  they  were  ordered  to  bring  him  before  the  Emperor.  He 
was  a  right  inquisitive  Yankee.  The  Czar  asked  the  object  of  his 
visit,  and  his  intentions,  when  his  business  was  ended.  He  replied 
that  he  wanted  to  see  Russia  for  himself  that  he  might  tell  his 
countrymen  the  truth  about  it.  The  naivete  of  the  young  man 
pleased  the  Czar,  who  the  Marquis  de  Custine  has  shown,  is  very 
anxious  to  hide  Russian  tyranny  and  slavery  from  foreigners,  and 
to  cause  a  belief  in  advanced  civilization.  Here  was  an  opportu- 
nity to  get  the  Americans.  "  So,"  said  the  Czar,  "  You  want  to 
see  and  learn  all  about  Russia  1  Well,  you  shall,  and  at  my  ex- 
pense. I  will  give  you  letters  and  see  that  you  are  everywhere 
well  received.  Where  do  you  want  to  go  first  V  "  To  Mos- 
cow." "When?"  "The  day  after  to-morrow,  at  6  o'clock." 
"  Good !  the  day  after  to  morrow,  at  6  o'clock,  I  will  send  for  you  ; 
be  ready." 

This  narrative  I  got  from  Codman  himself.  The  next  morning 
appeared  at  the  Yankee's  door  a  very  handsome  drosky  and 
horses,  with  an  imperial  coachman  and  two  adjutants.  Servants 
in  imperial  livery  loaded  another  drosky  writh  his  baggage  ;  the 


HIS  UNPARALLELED  IGNORANCE.  455 

adjutants  got  into  a  third,  and  he  was  whirled  off  to  Moscow  and 
put  into  a  second  rate  hotel.  He  had  scarcely  arrived  when  the 
Governor  and  all  his  staff  appeared  and  offered  to  do  the  honors 
of  the  city.  When  he  had  seen  all  the  lions  he  asked  to  go  tc 
the  Crimea  and  visit  the  camp  of  the  army  of  the  Caucasus.  He 
was  sent  there  by  the  Governor,  and  so  brought  to  Sevastopol  by 
the  flag-ship  of  the  Russian  Admiral.  Here  he  wanted  to  go  to 
headquarters  to  "  see  the  fun."  The  Admiral,  named,  I  think, 
Etschernicheff,  who  had  been  a  midshipman  of  Nelson  at  Trafal- 
gar, and  who  saw  nothing  in  his  passenger  but  an  uneducated 
curious  individual,  got  rid  of  him  at  Sevastopol.  But  he  had 
nothing  to  do  there  and  asked  to  see  the  camps.  He  was  told 
that  the  commandant,  Goloff  kin,  had  refused  entrance  to  strangers, 
etc.,  but  he  did  not  care.  The  Czar  had  promised  him  admission 
everywhere  and  he  would  complain  to  him  if  the  field-marshal 
refused.  He  grew  more  and  more  insolent  every  day,  and  was 
so  overbearing  that  there  came  a  sudden  order  from  imperial 
headquarters  to  send  him  to  Odessa,  and  thence  over  the  frontiers, 
with  some  money  for  his  expenses,  and  the  wish  for  a  pleasant 
journey  to  him.  How  he  got  to  Trieste,  I  did  not  learn,  but  he 
told  me  his  story  there,  and  proved  that  favors  do  not  always 
come  to  intelligent  men,  since  this  crazy  pate  had  met  with  such 
attention.  He  did  not  feel  a  bit  grateful  nor  did  he  make  any 
attempt  at  procuring  useful  information.  All  that  he  talked 
about  was  his  personal  intercourse  with  Nicholas  and  the  fact  that 
his  Majesty  had  been  kinder  to  him  than  to  any  other  traveller. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  RETURN  TO  TRIESTE— 

Departure  from  Odessa — The  Bosphorus — Constantinople  and  the  Golden 
Horn — The  Turkish  fleet — Smyrna — Three  weeks'  quarantine  at  Malta — 
Sicily — Naples — Comparison  of  the  impression  produced  by  the  Bay  of 
Naples  with  that  I  felt  at  my  first  sight  of  New  York  Bay — Continuation 
of  my  return -journey  to  Trieste,  by  way  of  Leghorn,  Genoa,  and  Venice — 
Trieste — The  house  of  J.  C.  Ritter  &  Co. — My  position  in  it — The  district- 
governor,  Count  Stadion-— Some  characteristic  sketches  of  him. 

1  started  from  Odessa  for  Constantinople  in  a  Russian  steamer, 
officered  by  Englishmen,  and  in  forty-four  hours  reached  the  Bos- 
phorus. Here  we  were  detained  by  a  fog,  which  cleared  off  at 
sunset  and  showed,  by  the  high  hills  upon  the  left,  to  be  near 
Ungiar-Skelessi,  where  the  famous  peace  was  made  between  Tur- 
key and  Russia,  and  Field-Marshal  Diebitch  obtained  the  object 
of  his  march  across  the  Balkan.  This  treaty  forbid  to  French 
and  English  vessels  entrance  to  the  Black  Sea  or  passage  through 
the  Bosphorus,  a  measure  which  remained  for  some  years  incom- 
prehensible to  those  two  nations. 

I  had  heard  so  much  of  the  wondrous  beauty  of  the  Bosphorus 
that  I  was  prepared  to  be  disappointed,  but  what  I  now  saw  sur- 
passed every  account.  A  Russian  officer,  a  fellow  passenger, 
gazed  at  the  lovely  shores  and  only  spoke  to  say,  "  It  is  too 
beautiful !  We  must  have  that."  It  was  the  hidden  but  long 
cherished  wish  of  his  government.  The  windings  of  the  Bospho- 
rus showed  us  many  a  glorious  sight.  The  northeast  wind  that 
had  blown  for  five  days  and  that  had  helped  us  through  the  Black 
Sea,  had  prevented  the  shipping  from  going  up  the  Dardanelles, 
and  there  lay  before  us  two  hundred  and  thirty  vessels.  Scarcely 
had  we  entered   the  strait  which   separates  Europe  from  Asia 


CONSTANTINOPLE  AND  THE  GOLDEN  HORN.  457 


when  a  light  south  wind  came  up  and  permitted  the  various 
sels  to  m&ke  sail.  And  the  flitting  of  the  white  sails  among  the 
exquisite  scenery  had  a  magical  effect.  I  do  not  feel  called  upon 
to  describe  what  so  many  better  pens  have  done,  but  I  ought  to 
speak  of  the  effect  upon  myself.  The  fairy-like  view  of  the  pano- 
rama that  unrolled  before  us  was  greatest  as  we  neared  Bujukdere 
and  Therapia  on  the  right,  and  Scutari  on  the  left  or  Asiatic  side 
of  the  Bosphorus,  towards  which  we  looked,  over  Pera  Galata 
and  Constantinople.  Over  the  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  great 
and  small  dwellings,  mosques,  minarets,  kiosks,  and  cypresses 
which  cover  the  hill  tops  near  Therapia  and  the  shores  below,  we 
saw  the  new  palace  of  the  Sultan,  built  by  English  architects,  and 
of  which  the  white  walls  and  delicate  fretwork  made  it  look  as  if 
built  of  cards. 

From  the  entrance  to  the  Golden  Horn,  a  bay  that  separates 
Constantinople  from  old  Stamboul,  to  the  palace  in  Therapia,  lay 
twenty-two  ships-of-the-lin<e,  just  come  from  Mehemet  Ali,  most 
prominent  among  them  the  flag-ship  Mahomet,  commanded  by 
the  Admiral,  an  Englishman  named  Walker.  From  every  mast 
swung  flags,  an  hundred  cannons  roared  salutes,  and  the  bay  was 
covered  with  thousands  of  caiques,  as  is  the  case  whenever  the 
Sultan  goes  to  Mosque  by  water,  furnishing  a  spectacle  that  far 
surpasses  the  famed  Venetian  regatta. 

I  found  several  young  Englishmen  in  the  Hotel  d'Angleterre, 
upon  the  heights  of  Pera,  near  the  new,  gorgeous  palace  of  the 
Russian  Embassy.  Among  them  was  the  son  of  my  London 
solicitor,  Mr.  Landford,  a  well  educated,  clever  young  man,  who 
was  going  with  several  other  Englishmen  from  Scutari  by  land 
along  the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus  to  the  Black  Sea.  I  went  with 
them  to  the  heights  of  Ungiar-Skelessi,  on  one  of  which  is  the 
grave  of  the  prophet  Jonah,  measuring  eight  feet  by  five,  and 
suggesting  vast  dimensions  for  the  whale  that  swallowed  him. 

Then  I  went  to  Bourgurloo,  from  whence  can  be  seen  the 
southern  entrance  to  the  Bosphorus,  both  shores  of  the  Golden 
Horn,  the  Prince  Islands,  the  Tower  of  Leander,  the  sea  of  Mar- 
mora, and  the  Dardanelles.  With  me  was  the  third  son  of  Me- 
hemet Ali  an  odd  informed  young  man,  with  a  streak  of  French 

20 


458  BAY  OF  NAPLES. 

politeness  about  him  towards  us,  although  he  was  haughty  and 
peremptory  towards  the  Turks. 

After  a  three  weeks'  stay  I  left  Constantinople,  to  which  the 
palm  must  be  given  over  all  European  or  American  scenery 
known  to  me.  A  French  steamer  took  me  to  Smyrna,  and  soon 
to  Malta,  where  we  passed  twenty-two  days  in  the  Lazaretto.  In 
Smyrna  we  had  taken  another  passenger,  the  son  of  Lord  So- 
mers,  who  succeeded  to  that  earldom  before  we  reached  Malta. 
He  was  a  young,  cultivated  man,  who  had  thoroughly  travelled 
Asia  Minor,  discovered  mines  and  cities,  to  which  Fellowes  and 
other  travellers  had  gone,  and  had  filled  his  portfolios  with  admi- 
rable views  and  sketches.  We  were  very  good  friends  in  the 
Lazaretto.  At  the  end  of  our  quarantine  he  set  out  for  England, 
to  be  present  at  the  opening  of  Parliament,  but  determined  to 
visit  Asia  Minor  as  soon  as  the  ceremony  was  over.  Next  year 
I  met  with  him  in  Trieste,  on  his  road  to  the  East.  I  was  glad 
to  leave  the  hot,  dry  climate  of  Malta,  where  there  is  scarcely  any 
vegetation,  and  where  all  the  drinking  water  comes  from  Africa, 
and  to  take  the  Neapolitan  steamer  for  Messina. 

As  we  neared  the  Sicilian  coast,  we  saw  Etna  in  eruption.  We 
stayed  long  enough  in  Syracuse  to  see  the  ruins  of  the  Roman 
amphitheatre,  the  gallery  called  the  "  ©ar  of  Dionysius,"  the  sub- 
terranean baths,  and  the  theatre.  The  next  morning  at  ten  we 
reached  Messina,  the  loveliness  of  which  I  will  not  attempt  to  des- 
cribe. Another  boat  took  us  to  Naples,  and  had  any  view  suc- 
ceeded the  Bay  of  Naples  as  it  did  Messina,  I  think  my  delight 
would  have  driven  me  crazy.  Fortunately  my  recollections  of 
the  Golden  Horn  sufficed  to  calm  me.  I  knew  characteristics  of 
the  bay  from  pictures  in  my  father's  possession,  painted  by  the 
brothers  Hackert,  court  painters  in  Naples  ;  so  that  I  somewhat 
knew  the  place.  Furthermore,  the  impression  of  New  York  Bay 
was  ineffaceably  stamped  on  my  memory,  although  it  must  yield 
the  palm  to  Naples,  for  it  lacks  the  haughty  head  of  Vesuvius 
towering  on  high ;  it  lacks  the  countless  monuments  of  twent}' 
centuries  of  old  civilization  and  the  gorgeous  palaces  of  the  new ; 
but  then  it  shows  a  spectacle  that  the  indolent  Neapolitan  can 
scarce  imagine ;  that  wondrous  active  life  where  every  intelligence 


RETROSPECTION.  -  459 

speaks  ;  that  magnificent  shipping,  that  mingling  of  the  two  vast 
rivers,  the  fresh  and  blooming  vegetation  on  the  shores.  I 
went  to  private  lodgings  at  the  foot  of  the  Castel  del  Ovo,  where 
I  had  a  view  of  the  Bay,  Vesuvius.  But  here  where  I  had 
hoped  to  find  that  world-renowned  sunshine,  the  cloudless  moonlit 
nights,  and  the  light  Mediterranean  airs,  the  equinoctial  storm 
came  on,  and  tossed  the  American  fleet  then  cruising  in  the  bay, 
sent  cold  rough  winds  to  destroy  the  genial  atmosphere,  clouded 
the  azure  sky,  and  poured  down  chilly  rains.  Even  Vesuvius 
would  not  break  out  for  me.  In  vain  my  servant  told  me  that  an 
eruption  must  take  place,  for  the  hermit  and  all  other  weather 
prophets  had  foretold  it ;  the  mountain  fires  lay  still.  On  the  3d, 
a  fine  clear  day,  I  went  to  Capri,  reaching  it  too  late  to  see  the 
grotto,  and  the  next  two  days  the  storm  renewed  its  violence,  and 
made  the  visit  impossible.  In  spite  of  this  I  visited  the  whole 
island,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  third  day  gave  a  ball  at  the  inn, 
that  I  might  see  the  Tarantella  danced  in  this,  its  native  land.  For 
two  scudi  my  landlord  promised  to  provide  a  dozen  pretty  peas- 
ants and  the  requisite  cavaliers,  with  pipers,  wine,  fruit,  bread 
and  cheese,  and  my  ball  went  finely  off.  I  then  gave  up  the 
grotto  and  went  to  Sorrento,  and  thence  by  Castelamare  and  Portici 
back  to  Naples.  Busy  as  I  was  with  the  present,  I  found  time 
for  a  glance  at  the  past.  I  had  seen  in  the  yellow  fever  year, 
1822,  a  mighty  city,  (New  York,)  rendered  desolate ;  its  houses 
forsaken  and  its  commerce  stayed.  I  had  gone  down  into  the  city 
to  look  at  it.  The  watchman  at  the  Park  looked  at  me  in  amaze- 
ment, as  did  those  in  Broadway,  Wall,  and  Pearl-streets,  who 
usually  sat  upon  chairs  in  the  middle  of  the  streets  smoking 
cigars.  I  soon  got  enough  of  my  lonely  walk.  My  walk  in 
Pompeii  was  different.  Fifteen  centuries  had  gone  since  this  city 
had  been  inhabited,  and  there  were  no  ties  to  the  present.  That 
ancient  civilization  suggested  other  ideas  and  bore  another  look 
than  that  of  modern  days.  Comparison  between  these  civilizations 
is  natural  and  interesting,  but  not  very  instructive,  and  the  only 
result  is,  that  now  man  gives  to  practical  industry  the  energy  that 
then  was  consecrated  to  art.  Pompeii  must  be  leisurely  seen, 
and  will   reward  the  antiquarian.     Most  of  its  treasures  are  in 


460  FAILURE  OF  THE  PROJECT. 

the  Museo  Borbonico.  The  collection  is  already  immense,  and 
new  buildings  must  be  prepared  if  the  disinterments  go  on  as 
fast  as  they  did  in  the  days  of  Queen  Caroline  (Murat). 

I  felt  a  different  interest  in  the  hotel,  from  the  window  of  which 
poor  Nourrit,  once  the  first  Parisian  opera  singer,  had  thrown 
himself  in  despair,  when  Duprez  was  preferred  to  him.  "  I  was 
king,"  he  wrote ;  "  I  governed  the  opera  at  my  will — there  I 
reigned  ;  now  I  will  never  govern  more."  Thus  applying  Thiers' 
words  about  Louis  Philippe  to  himself.  He  could  not  bear  to  see 
his  rival  preferred.  Whoever  has  seen  Nourrit  in  the  first  act  of 
Auber's  Gustave  ou  le  Bal  Masque,  will  remember  with  what  a 
solemn  gravity  and  feeling  of  superiority  he  used  to  strut  about 
and  strive  to  imitate  the  majesty  of  kings.  Poor  fellow  he  was 
deposed  by  Duprez,  ut  de  poitrine,  which  he  could  never  reach. 

I  left  Naples  without  having  seen  its  sky,  and  the  next  day  I 
started  by  Civita  Vecchia  for  Leghorn.  The  elder  Mr.  Grant 
was  nearly  blind  and  deaf,  and  quite  retired  from  business ;  Mr. 
John  Grant  had  gone  to  the  baths,  so  I  went  to  Trieste.  The 
Hamburg  Consul  there,  Mr.  Joseph  Prey,  informed  me  that  the 
very  respectable  house  of  J.  C.  Ritter  and  Co.  wanted  my  help 
in  their  German,  French,  and  English  correspondences.  The  duty 
was  an  easy  one  for  me,  if  we  should  mutually  please  each  other. 
I  was  invited  for  Sunday  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Boeckman,  the  head 
of  the  firm.  On  Saturday  Mr.  Meticke  pointed  him  out  to  me  on 
the  exchange,  and  I  saw  a  person  who  never  stood  still  for  a  mo- 
ment, holding  a  cane  in  his  hands  crossed  behind  his  back.  He 
moved  as  if  he  were  full  of  quicksilver,  and  I  could  not  get  a 
sight  of  his  profile.  I  found  him  on  Sunday  however,  friendly  and 
polite,  and  soon  came  to  an  understanding  with  him.  I  found  also 
"  good  nature"  to  be  the  characteristic  of  the  whole  firm.  I 
remained  in  charge  of  the  correspondence  of  this  firm  for  two 
years,  and  quitted  it  because  of  difference  of  character  and  mer- 
cantile views.  All  commentaries  on  our  separation  were  pre- 
vented by  the  Messrs.  Rftter  giving  me  an  entire  year's  salary, 
and  by  the  continuation  of  our  friendly  intercourse. 

I  had  now  time  to  look  about  me,  at  the  manners  and  customs 
of  the  mixed  population  of  Trieste,  which  consists  principally  of 


THE  GOVERNOR  OF  TRIESTE.  461 

Italians  and  Germans,  plenty  of  Greeks,  and  a  few  English  and 
French.  The  natives  are  Sclavic  in  origin,  and  the  sailors  and 
fishermen  from  Dalmatia. 

Trieste  is  both  the  only  free  German  port  in  the  south  and  an 
Austrian  city.  As  free  port,  it  belongs  to  Germany ;  in  every- 
thing else  it  is  part  of  the  Austrian  Empire ;  and  the  hearts  of 
the  people  beat  only  for  Germany  when  it  accords  with  Austria. 
This  was  clearly  shown  in  the  Frankfort  National  Assembly  of 
1848,  in  the  choice  of  the  Trieste  deputies,  who  were  Herr  Von 
Bruck  and  Dr.  F.  M.  Burger,  now  Governor  of  Steinmark.  Still 
I  must  say  that  the  population  of  Trieste  is  mercantile,  and 
when  I  speak  of  their  heart-beatings,  I  must  add,  that  the  hearts 
are  situated  in  their  pockets.  But  in  all  commercial  places — 
Trieste,  or  Hamburg,  or  Bremen,  or  anywhere  else — commercial 
interest  is  the  first  principle,  and  patriotism  merely  secondary. 
Thus  the  tendencies  of  public  officers  and  merchants  are  different. 
Once,  when  Count  Stadion,  Governor  of  Trieste,  and  myself  dif- 
fered about  some  measure,  he  frankly — for  he  was  a  noble,  open- 
hearted  man — remarked,  that  it  was  impossible  to  please  every- 
body. Where  the  interest  of  the  city  was  so  much  in  question,  as 
in  the  case  referred  to,  I  thought  there  could  be  no  difficulty. 
The  Count  replied :  "  Yes,  but  I  look  to  Vienna,  not  Trieste ; 
they  must  be  pleased  there ;  the  rest  follows  naturally,  or  must 
follow."  The  reconciliation  of  these  two  interests  is  the  greatest 
task  of  a  governor  of  Trieste,  if  he  wishes  the  welfare  of  the  city, 
as  Count  Stadion  unquestionably  did.  But  his  cleverness,  some- 
times over-praised,  was  not  equal  to  all  emergencies.  He  some- 
times showed  weakness,  especially  in  political  matters.  "  It  is 
my  custom,"  he  said  to  me,  "  to  stand  behind  the  curtain,  and  hold 
the  thread  in  my  own  hands,  and  let  others  do  what  is  to  be  done." 
He,  being  legally  bred,  was  somewhat  pedantic.  I  never  saw  him 
smile ;  and  even  the  smoking,  which  he  permitted  after  his  din- 
ner-parties, never  brought  an  expression  of  ease,  much  less  of  mer- 
riment, to  his  face.  The  man  was  cold  as  the  statue  of  the  Com- 
mander in  Don  Juan  ;  and  the  politeness  of  the  entertainer  and  the 
respect  of  the  entertained  were  equally  cold.  He  was  esteemed, 
like,  many   others,   because   talent,   which   he   did   not   possess 


462  LOSS  OF  ONE  SITUATION, 

was  attributed  to  him ;  and  for  the  same  reason,  he  was  made 
minister. 

Leaving  the  Messrs.  Ritter,  I  of  course  had  to  look  for  other 
employment.  The  secretaryship  of  the  Austrian  "  Lloyds"  was 
vacant,  having  been  resigned  by  Mr.  J.  Hagenauer,  and  I  went 
directly  to  M.  von  Bruck,  who  was  the  most  influential  man  in 
the  affair.  He  came  and  gave  no  positive  answer,  but  promised 
me  all  his  interest.  I  passed  the  time  in  paying  a  visit  to  my 
brother  at  Florence,  and  then  returned  to  Trieste,  where  I  found 
that  the  post  had  been  given  to  a  person  who  not  only  had  faith- 
fully served  "  Lloyds"  in  the  Levant,  but  had  also  private  influ- 
ence. An  article,  the  last  of  a  series  written  for  amusement,  on 
the  characteristics  of  the  port  of  Fiume,  and  its  advantages  as  a 
to-be  rival  of  Trieste,  made  a  great  noise  in  the  city,  and  even 
procured  me  a  request  from  the  Governor  to  answer  it.  I  did  so, 
to  prove  to  him  that  I  could  write  German  quite  as  well  as  French 
or  English.  This  answer,  which  was  intended  for  the  Journal  of 
"  Lloyds,"  pleased  the  people  of  Trieste  so  much,  that  they  had 
it  inserted  in  the  Allgemeine  Zeitung. 

His  Excellency  observing  that  I  could  write  German,  requested 
me  to  write  an  article  for  "Lloyds"  Journal  on  the  Vienna  and 
Trieste  railway,  comparing  the  two  routes  from  Laybach  through 
the  Karst  and  the  other  along  the  Isonzo.  The  governor  preferred 
the  first,  but  the  most  important  men  of  Trieste,  among  them  Herr 
von  Bruck,  disagreed  with  him.  I  wrote  the  article,  and  gave  it 
to  him.  It  was  written  rather  polemical,  and  touched  upon  one 
or  two  foreign  topics.  The  governor  read  it  at  table  to  Messrs. 
Gio  di  P.  Sartorio,  C.  Regensdorff,  of  the  firm  of  Reyers,  and 
another  gentleman  whose  name  I  have  forgotten.  His  excellency 
read  so  badly  that  the  article  was  condemned,  and  Mr.  Regens- 
dorff requested  to  furnish  a  better  one  as  soon  as  possible.  The 
printers  already  had  a  copy  of  mine,  and  I  was  promised  a  proof 
on  the  third  day.  But  the  next  day  I  heard  that  Mr.  Regensdorft's 
was  to  be  printed  first.  I  complained,  but  Mr.  Papsch,  the  fore- 
man, had  received  his  orders  from  his  excellency  in  person.  I 
took  my  article  back,  and  had  it  published  in  the  Algemeine 
Zeitung  two  days  before  Mr.  Regensdorft's  appeared  in  Trieste. 


AND  A  STRUGGLE  FOR  ANOTHER.  463 

It  provoked  a  reply  in  the  Augsburger  Zeitung,  an  honor  not 
conferred  upon  my  worthy  rival.  I  would  not  have  spoken  of 
this,  except  to  give  an  instance  of  the  frequent  double-dealing  and 
unworthiness  of  Count  Stadion. 

My  friends  then  advised  me  to  write  something  that  would 
prove  to  the  governor  my  commercial  cleverness,  and  I  published 
with  Faverge  my  "  Glance  at  the  position  of  Commerce  at  the 
close  of  the  year  1843,  with  especial  reference  to  Trieste  and  the 
future  of  Austrian  Commerce."  Count  Stadion  was  pleased  with 
the  pamphlet.  I  obtained  first  the  imprimatur  of  the  censor  of 
the  press  in  Vienna,  and  then  asked  for  the  count's  permission  to 
print,  which  he  gave  on  condition  of  my  altering  one  paragraph 
of  twenty-eight  words.  I  expressed  the  same  idea  in  twenty 
eight  other  words,  and  his  ^excellency  was  satisfied. 

The  governor  had  no  further  doubts  of  my  capability,  but  he 
objected  to  my  age.  "  In  Austria,"  he  said,  "  we  prefer  only 
men  who  have  served  thirty  years  under  our  eyes."  And  I  al- 
ready counted  sixty-five !  The  affairs  of  the  Exchange,  and  its 
correspondence  with  government,  were  usually  written  in  Italian, 
and  the  secretary  was  generally  an  old  man.  These  writings  were 
suffered  to  accumulate  in  Vienna,  simply  because  they  were  not 
written  in  German,  and  the  Council  there  did  not  always  know 
Italian.  It  had  long  appeared  necessary  to  conduct  the  corres- 
pondence in  German,  and  it  was  proposed  to  give  the  Italian 
secretary  a  German  assistant.  Dr.  F.  M.  Burger,  then  actuary 
of  the  Exchange,  whose  confidence  I  had  won,  did  all  he  could  for 
me  ;  the  rest  of  the  authorities  were  in  my  favor ;  but  the  Italian 
secretary  and  the  governor  were  against  me.  The  governor  had 
nothing  to  say  against  me,  but  he  knew  that  I  understood  him, 
and  that  I  doubted  his  infallibility.  Therefore  if  I  were  appointed 
by  the  Board,  I  must  expect  his  veto. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

TRIESTE. 

Visit  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand,  in  the  company  of  his  -wife  and  minister — 
The  Baron  Von  Kiiebec — His  invitation  to  persevere  in  the  examination  of 
Peel's  Bank  Bill,  of  1844,  which  I  first  bring  to  his  notice — He  permits  me 
to  dedicate  my  "  Condition  and  Prospects  of  the  World's  Commerce  in  the 
early  months  of  the  year  1845,"  to  him — Count  Stadion's  great  egg,  the 
Austrian  East  India  Company — Mission  of  Mr.  P.  Erichsen — The  article  of 
the  Augsburgh  "  Algemeine  Zeitung,"  of  August  9th,  1845,  in  relation  to  the 
population  of  Trieste,  &c. — A  reference  to  Mr.  Von  Brack,  the  true  lucky 
star  that  has  risen  over  Trieste — Closer  acquaintanceship  with  him — The 
blind  traveller,  Lieutenant  Holman — The  Scotchman,  Keith,  with  his  collec- 
tion of  daguerreotypes — Completion  of  a  work  on  freedom  of  Trieste  as  a 
commercial  port — Count  Stadion  lays  his  veto  upon  it — A  project  touch- 
ing me,  devised  by  Mr.  Von  Bruck,  takes  me  to  Vienna,  and  thence  to 
Paris. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  early  in  1844,  when  Baron 
Von  Gehringer,  private  secretary  of  Baron  Von  Kiiebec,  came  to 
Trieste,  on  his  way  from  Constantinople.  I  had  written  to  him  in 
Vienna,  about  my  just-mentioned  pamphlet,  and  had  thanked  him 
for  procuring  its  appearance,  when  I  met  him  in  Venice.  He  had 
also  read  something  of  mine  on  the  corn  trade,  and  he  now  told  me 
that  the  Emperor  and  his  cabinet  would  visit  Trieste  in  the  autumn, 
;ind  that  Baron  Von  Kiiebec  who  had  read  some  writings  of 
mine,  had  expressed  a  wish  to  know  me.  The  Emperor  came 
accompanied  by  Prince  Metternich,  Count  Kollowrath,  Baron  Von 
Kiiebec,  and  other  notable  persons.  I  called  on  the  Baron,  and 
was  requested  to  call  the  next  day  at  2  o'clock.  I  had  hardly 
reached  there,  when  Count  Stadion  entered,  and  saw  me  with  sur- 
prise. After  waiting  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  I  was  received,  and 
found  him  a  polite  and  clever  man.     The  topics  of  the  day  were 


THE  BARON  VON  KUEBEC.  465 

discussed,  and  then  I  expressed  my  desire  for  the  post  as  assistant 
Secretary  of  the  Exchange.  He  promised  to  speak  to  Count  Sta- 
dion  about  it,  and  I  know  he  did  so,  though  in  vain.  He  asked 
what  I  was  doing  now,  and  I  told  him  that  I  was  examining  Sir 
Robert  Peel's  Bank  Bill,  with  reference  to  the  renewal  of  the  Act 
of  Incorporation  of  the  Bank  of  England,  in  order  to  see  its  influ- 
ence upon  the  English  and  the  general  money  market.  "  If  you 
do  that,  Mr.  Nolte,"  he  said,  "  you  will  give  me  great  pleasure. 
We  in  Austria  are  rather  behindhand  in  such  matters,  and  require 
help."  "  Excellenza,"  I  replied,  "  that  is  sufficient  to  set  me  at 
work,  but  I  cannot  pass  through  the  hands  of  Count  Stadion, 
whose  grasp  is  not  a  friendly  one  for  me."  He  laughed,  and 
told  me  to  send  the  work  directly  to  him.  Four  months 
afterwards  I  sent  it  to  Baron  Von  Gehringer,  with  a  request  to 
give  it  to  M.  de  Kuebec.  This  brought  me  in  answer  the  minis- 
ter's approval,  and  a  request  to  publish. 

On  the  4th  of  May,  1845,  Count  Stadion  sent  the  following 
rescript : — 

"  Well-born  Lord  : 

"  The  inclosed  MSS.,  entitled  "  Examination  of  the  new  reform 
in  the  English  bank  and  money-market,  with  their  influence  on 
commerce,  and  its  effect  upon  prices,"  which  your  excellency  has 
sent  to  the  President  of  the  Royal  Imperial  Court,  I  send  back, 
with  this  remark,  that  his  excellency  the  president  has  read  it, 
with  all  the  interest  that  its  great  information,  clearness,  and  pre- 
cision deserve. 

"  With  greatest  esteem,  etc. 

"STADION." 

I  recognized  the  hand  of  Baron  Von  Kuebec  in  this,  and  deter- 
mined to  dedicate  the  work  to  him.  I  therefore  wrote  to  him, 
and  received  the  answer  on  the  27th  May,  containing  his  accept- 
ance of  the  dedication,  and  his  thanks  for  the  compliment. 

When  I  asked  permission  to  print  it,  of  Count  Stadion,  he 
replied,  "  Certainly  not."  But  when  I  remarked  that  it  was  to 
be  dedicated,  by  permission,  to  Baron  Von  Kuebec,  he  said  "  So." 
Then  I  recognized  that  position,  not  merit,  was  what  he  looked  at 

20* 


466  MISSION  OF  MR.  P.  ERICHSEN. 

in  a  man.  It  was  not  very  difficult  to  see  the  reason  of  the  im- 
portance of  Trieste,  since  it  is  the  exit  point  of  all  German  and 
Austrian  industry  by  the  Mediterranean  sea  to  all  regions,  and  is 
the  first  point  of  j  unction  between  the  Levant  and  the  North.  Count 
Stadion  did  not  understand  the  future  importance  of  Trieste. 
He  felt  it  as  any  half-observing  person  with  cosmopolitan  ideas 
would  feel  it ;  but  the  manner  of  increasing  its  importance  was 
utterly  hidden  from  him.  The  overland  voyage  of  Mr.  P. 
Erichsen,  now  Secretary  of  the  Vienna  and  Danube  Steamship 
Company,  to  India  and  China,  with  a  view  of  promoting  an  East 
India  trade  with  Trieste,  was,  of  course,  in  these  days  of  free- 
trade,  useless.  The  Vienna  bankers  cared  little  for  these  extended 
operations,  and  would  take  no  shares  in  the  proposed  association, 
not  seeing  the  source  from  which  profit  was  to  flow ;  the  trea- 
sury was  not  rich  enough  to  support  this  monopoly,  and  there 
was  not  sufficient  surplus  capital  in  Trieste.  The  true  means  of 
bringing  Levant  commerce  to  Austria  would  be  the  improvement 
of  the  postal-system,  the  roads,  and  communications  generally. 
Then  a  company  could  be  found  without  aid,  as  indeed  took  place 
later.  This  East  India  project  is  the  most  important  that  ever 
got  into  Count  Stadion's  head.  He  had  no  vitality,  however, 
and  soon  disappeared.  The  reader  will  get  a  glance  of  the  pre- 
sent and  proper  leader  of  Trieste  from  the  following  article,  pub- 
lished in  the  Augsburger  Allgemeine  Zeitung,  August  9,  1845. 

"POPULATION    OF    TRIESTE    AND    ITS    DUTY    IN    THE    FUTURE. 

"  In  this  age  of  universal  progress,  when  the  strength  of  every 
intellect,  high  or  low,  is  needed,  the  idea  of  coming  perfection 
wars  with  the  love  of  custom.  The  more  we  believe  that  stand- 
ing still  is  retrogression,  so  much  the  greater  must  the  union  of 
thought  and  power  appear,  without  which  there  can  be  no  progress 
nor  result.  Where  this  union  does  not  exist  men  should  never 
rest.  No  enchanter's  wand  can  create  it;  no  law  call  it  into  life; 
it  is  the  result  of  long  vigilance.  The  necessity  which  every  one 
feels  to  contribute  his  mite  towards  the  common  perfection 
creates  the  duty  of  ceasing  to  be  mere  spectators  of  the  conflict, 
and  of  becoming  active  participants  in  it.     With  such  ideas  and 


TRIESTE.  46f 

with  opened  eyes  it  is  easy  to  see  by  the  constitution  and  organi- 
zation of  our  city,  by  the  nature  of  its  manners  and  customs,  what 
is  necessary  to  produce  that  common  spirit  which  alone  can  secure 
for  Trieste  the  attainment  of  her  object.  Thinkers  and  nonthinkers 
love  her  ;  but  inactive  love  is  useless. 

"  Trieste  is  the  only  Mediterranean  seaport  in  which  all  this  can 
be  clearly  shown.  Genoa  and  Leghorn  are  not  representatives 
of  a  mighty  empire ;  the  gate  to  vast  provinces.  And  yet, 
though  this  is  undeniable,  the  voice  that  should  urge  the  improve- 
ment of  our  civil,  moral  and  physical  condition  is  silent — the  pro- 
mise of  the  future  is  not  whispered.  And  why  this  apathy  that 
clogs  and  retards  progress  1  The  cause  is  in  our  origin,  in  the  mix- 
ture of  our  population,  in  the  variety  of  private  interests  among 
which  public  interests  are  lost;  in  the  want  of  energy,  in  the  fet- 
ters of  custom.  Our  government  is  paternal,  but  its  wisdom  has 
not  yet  discovered  the  means  of  improvement.  There  are  few  ex- 
amples of  active  help,  and  many  of  the  slumberers  complain  about 
the  evil  condition  of  things.  There  is  here  no  intention  of  deny- 
ing the  willingness  of  our  fellow-citizens — most  of  them  do  not 
know  their  wills,  nor  discover  what  they  have  to  do  or  to  let 
alone,  what  is  their  duty  towards  their  government,  their  fellow- 
citizens  and  themselves.  They  lack  union,  which  alone  can  lead 
to  improvement.  As  before  said,  the  history  of  our  position  ex- 
plains this. 

"  At  the  fall  of  the  French  Empire  this  port  first  perceived  its 
future ;  comparison  of  Trieste  now  with  Trieste  in  1814  will 
prove  the  march  of  progress.  Its  port-freedom  and  its  position 
with  reference  to  the  East  showed  the  source  of  its  coming  rise. 
But  other  countries  discovered  this  before  the  Fatherland,  which 
was  just  recovering  from  the  long  war,  and  in  which  commerce 
was  yet  in  its  infancy.  Glance  at  our  Exchange.  It  counts  fifty- 
four  great  enregistered  firms,  of  which  only  fifteen  are  established 
since  1814-15,  and  of  which  only  seven  are  from  the  German 
part  of  the  Empire.  At  the  head  of  these,  however,  stand  Messrs. 
Reyer  &  Schlik,  a  firm  ever  ready  to  do  all  for  the  common  good, 
and  already  the  pointer  out  of  the  road  to  progress,  for  instance, 
by  tho  founding  of  the  Austrian  Lloyds.     Not  profit,  but  the 


468  TRIESTE 

common  weal,  has  been  their  object.  But  our  population  con- 
sists of  Bavarians,  Swabians,  Rhine! and ers,  Saxons,  of  Swiss,  of 
French  and  English,  of  Romans,  of  Neapolitans  and  Greeks,  all 
whom  have  the  protection  of  the  government,  and  find  here  a 
common  home.  Gain  was  the  motive  of  their  settling  here,  the 
weightiest,  the  first  motive  ;  and  that  love  for  the  Austian  Em- 
pire was  only  a  slowly  ripened  feeling.  Of  course,  you  find 
here  much  egotistic  indifference  and  apathy.  Therefore  we  miss 
that  feeling  of  their  own  political  worth  in  the  grown-up  genera- 
tion born  here,  of  those  foreign  settlers,  which  should  have  raised 
them  to  high  rank  and  influence.  The  more  the  government 
shows  a  tendency  to  progress,  the  more  it  becomes  the  duty  of 
individuals  to  give  their  influence  and  power  to  help  that  progress 
on — to  love  the  old  only  when  it  contains  the  seed  of  advance, 
and  not  to  hate  blindly  whatsoever  is  new,  but  to  prove  it,  and  if 
it  be  found  good,  to  accept  it.  Unfortunately  this  is  just  the 
spirit  that  we  lack. 

"  The  fear  that  the  new  will  not  prove  so  good  as  it  appears ;  a 
disposition  to  suspect  it  as  a  result  of  private  interests,  the  excel- 
lence of  which  is  doubted  because  unknown  or  because  it  comes  from 
a  disapproved  source — this  is  the  reigning  disposition  here  and 
prevents  the  spread  of  true  philanthropy  and  patriotism.  Among 
those  who  have  ever  honorably  striven  for  the  independence  which 
every  well  organized  man  desires,  there  is  one  who  has  never 
stood  still,  who  has  seen  the  mighty  future  of  Trieste  and  urged 
the  city  on  towards  it,  whose  works  are  visible  to  every  eye  that 
looks  from  the  heights  of  Opschina  upon  the  steamers,  or  lands 
from  one  of  them  here.  He  is  to  be  found  by  the  stranger  at 
early  morning,  noon  or  evening,  in  the  Halls  of  the  Tergesteum 
or  before  the  Chancery  of  Lloyds.  He  is  a  man  of  the  greatest 
simplicity  of  manners,  with  the  forehead  of  the  weariless  thinker. 
Every  one  listens  to  him  with  attention,  every  one  gets  a  kind, 
intelligent  answer  from  him.  This  man,  whose  sharpness  in  de- 
tecting merit  in  others  is  only  equalled  by  his  modesty  in  doubt- 
ing his  own,  was  born  on  the  Rhine,  and  has  won  the  veneration 
of  Trieste  by  introducing  steamers  and  founding  the  Austrian 
Lloyds.     But  he  was   not  always  rightly  judged  nor  properly 


FREIHERR  VON  BRUCK.  469 

esteemed ;  nor  was  his  zeal  for  public  good  unsuspected  to  be 
zeal  for  his  own  interest — nor  were  his  clear  insight  into  the 
future,  his  clearness  of  method  and  judicious  selection  of  means 
always  appreciated.  Yet  in  his  noble  example  men  should  have 
heard  a  voice  saying,  '  Go  thou  and  do  likewise.' 

"  Many  Germans  have  discovered  new  helps  to  trade  and  in 
dustry  in  Trieste,  opened  new  ways,  and  helped  the  spread  and 
perfectioning  of  our  commerce  ;  for  instance,  in  opening  trade  with 
Hungary.  Private  interest,  people  say — and  the  glorious  example 
stands  alone :  but  the  impulse  is  given,  and  the  next  generation 
will  profit  by  it,  and  work  for  the  public  good.  Fortunately 
Trieste  possesses  in  her  governor  an  earnest  man,  who,  if  he  do 
not  always  find  the  way  of  doing  a  thing,  still  has  the  good  of  the 
city  at  heart,  sees  the  greatness  of  her  future,  and  desires  to  pro- 
mote it  as  now,  by  the  establishment  of  an  East  India  Co.  This 
proposition  has  not  yet  been  received  by  the  Vienna  bankers  with 
the  warmth  that  it  merits,  but  that  will  come  in  time.  For  men 
cannot  long  remain  blind  to  the  exhaustless  treasury  of  Indian  and 
Chinese  commerce,  of  the  countless  purchasers  that  those  wares 
will  bring  to  Trieste,  who  will  find  new  necessities  and  new  tastes. 
But  the  foundation  must  be  laid,  and  patience  must  be  exercised 
and  means  furnished,  before  this  splendid  project  can  go  on.  One 
day  Trieste  will  understand  this." 

The  man  of  whom  I  have  spoken  above  is  Freiherr  Von  Bruck. 
The  morning  after  the  arrival  of  this  article  in  Trieste,  I  was  sur 
rounded  by  anxious  people,  inquiring  if  I  had  read  it.  When  I 
said  "  Yes,"  they  asked  "  How  could  you  write  it  1 "  "  But, 
how  do  you  know  I  wrote  it1? "  "There  is  no  one  else  here  who 
could  have  done  it."  "  Well,"  I  said,  "  I  did  write  it ;  and  what 
then  1  What  have  you  to  blame  in  it  1  Is  it  not  all  true  %  "  "  Yes  ; 
but  we  cannot  bear  that  a  stranger  should  receive  such  extraor- 
dinary praise."  "  W^ell,"  I  said,  "  you  can  prevent  the  recurrence 
of  this  by  doing  as  he  has  done."  Another  highly  estimable  and 
worthy  friend  of  mine  said,  "  Mr.  Nolte,  I  am  sorry  that  you 
wrote  that  article,  for  I  have  liked  your  other  writings  much."  I 
asked  his  reasons ;  but  he  would  only  say,  "  The  article  does  not 


470  HARBOR  FREEDOM 

please  me."  The  cause,  however,  was  plain  :  they  were  unwil- 
ling to  give  the  position  to  Herr  Von  Bruck,  which  his  undeniable 
worth  deserved  from  this  his  second  fatherland.  Yet  my  friend 
abovementioned,  became,  a  few  years  later,  one  of  the  most  de- 
voted followers  of  Von  Bruck. 

A  word  here  of  my  connection  with  the  Freiherr.  I  had  only 
known  him  by  sight  before  my  application  for  the  secretaryship 
of  Lloyds ;  and  the  character  given  to  me  of  him,  on  my  first  ar- 
rival, was  that  of  a  clever  but  crotchetty  man.  "  He  tries  every- 
thing," they  said — "  starts  a  hundred  schemes,  gets  sharers,  and 
when  a  scheme  threatens  badly,  backs  out  of  it,  and  leaves  the 
others  to  bear  the  loss."  But  it  was  impossible  to  pass  a  few 
weeks  in  Trieste,  without  seeing  his  footsteps  in  every  direction, 
without  recognizing  his  systematic  and  well-ordered  mind,  and 
seeing  in  him  an  extraordinary  and  thoughtful  man — no  dreamer 
— but  a  clear-sighted,  practical  man.  This  belief  grew  with  my 
knowledge  of  him,  and  was  proven  at  my  return  from  Florence. 
He  had  a  daughter  there  at  a  seminary  for  noble  young  ladies, 
and  had  requested  me  to  visit  her  and  bring  him  letters.  This 
began  a  more  intimate  acquaintance,  which  increased  in  the  sum- 
mer, by  our  frequently  dining  together  on  Sundays,  at  the  Hotel 
Metternich.     I  gratefully  remember  his  good-will  towards  me. 

Shortly  after  the  Emperor's  visit,  the  people  of  Trieste  became 
intensely  anxious  about  the  continuation  of  their  harbor  freedom. 
In  the  Vienna  and  Pesth  journals,  constant  attempts  were  made  to 
close  the  port,  because  of  the  lack  of  funds  in  the  Austrian  custom- 
house. These  articles  were  known  to  be  from  the  pen  of  Min- 
isterial Councillor  Von  Hock,  who  had  long  been  controller  in 
Trieste,  and  who  probably  expressed  the  views  of  the  Cabinet. 
Trieste  was  disturbed,  and  the  exchange  deputation  requested  me 
to  write  a  work  on  free  ports  in  general,  and  Trieste  in  particular, 
in  order  to  distribute  it  among  the  high  placemen  at  Vienna,  par- 
ticularly the  court  councillors,  and  to  get  their  influence.  I  un- 
dertook the  work,  finished  it  in  about  six  months,  and  laid  it 
before  the  committee,  among  whom  were  Herr  Constantin  Von 
Reyer,  Herr  Von  Renner,  and  other  principal  men,  and  they  de- 
termined to  print  it,  and  to  have  it  also  translated  by  me  into 


THE  BLIND  TRAVELLER.  471 

French.  But  Governor  Stadion's  approval  must  be  had,  and  he 
greatly  liked  the  work  on  the  whole,  but  disliked  certain  occasional 
free-thinking  tendencies,  and  thought  that  the  public  was  not  ready 
to  receive  it.  The  committee,  like  all  the  public  bodies  in  Trieste, 
had  to  bow  to  the  nod  of  his  excellency.  I  had  been  paid  a  good 
price  for  the  work,  and  owned  the  manuscript  and  copyright. 
But  the  governor  wanted  the  committee  to  buy  the  copyright, 
with  which  I  was  very  ill  content. 

In  the  summer  of  1844,  many  strangers  had  come  to  Trieste  in 
expectation  of  a  visit  from  the  court,  and  also  for  sea  bathing. 
One  of  these  could  enjoy  but  little  of  the  festivities,  for  he  was 
blind.  He  had,  by  his  eccentricity  and  wandering  through  the 
world,  won  a  certain  celebrity,  but  had  no  merit  as  an  intelligent 
person.  He  was  an  English  naval  lieutenant,  by  name,  James 
Holman,  who  had  lost  his  sight  by  the  sudden  change  from  a 
three  years'  cruise  off  the  coast  of  Labrador  to  the  West  India 
station.  He  was  thus  obliged  to  quit  the  service,  at  the  age  of 
28,  and  to  retire  on  lieutenant's  half  pay.  But  William  IV.,  him- 
self a  sailor,  made  him  a  knight  of  Windsor,  which  entitled  him  to 
a  house  in  Windsor  Park,  and  this  house  he  rented  for  some  £80 
or  £100.  He  lived  for  some  years  in  the  country  with  his 
brother,  a  married  but  childless  preacher.  But  the  difference  of 
circumstances  and  dispositions  made  the  time  pass  heavily,  and 
Holman  determined  to  wander  about  the  world.  Though  he  had 
means  enough  to  employ  a  good  servant,  he  determined  to  travel 
alone,  and  depend  upon  the  help  of  his  chance  companions,  in 
hopes  thus  to  secure  more  admiration  and  sympathy.  This  re- 
solve was  the  more  remarkable  from  the  fact  that  he  spoke  only 
English.  Thus,  for  twenty-seven  years,  he  wandered  about 
through  Norway  and  Sweden,  Russia  to  Siberia,  Poland,  Hun- 
gary, Turkey,  Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  and  the  Mediterranean  African 
coast,  Italy,  Spain,  France,  and  part  of  South  America.  The  only 
difficulty  that  he  met  was  in  Cracow,  Poland,  where,  in  spite  of 
his  blindness,  he  was  seized  as  a  spy.  thrown  for  nine  months  into 
prison,  and  only  released  by  an  English  lady  of  rank,  who  heard 
of  him  while  at  her  hotel  in  Cracow.  He  had  published  eight 
8vo.  vols,  of  his  travels,  but  being  all  hearsay  they  were  worth- 


472  LIEUTENANT  HOLM  AN. 

less ;  as  when  he  describes  the  city  of  Nizza  as  very  small, 
because,  being  invited  to  take  a  walk,  his  guide  brought  him  back 
in  half  an  hour. 

He  came  to  Trieste  from  Greece,  and  was  brought  to  the  Hotel 
Metternich  by  a  waiter,  hoping  to  find  there  some  one  who  could 
speak  English.  One  day,  the  host  came  to  me  and  told  me  that 
a  blind  Englishman  desired  to  sit  where  he  could  hear  his  mother 
tongue,  and  asked  if  he  might  come  to  my  table.  I  said  yes,  and 
he  brought  Lieutenant  Holman  forward.  He  was  a  good  looking 
man  of  sixty,  with  a  long,  white,  silken  beard,  which  he  arranged 
with  a  pocket-comb  every  fifteen  minutes.  I  knew  him  for  twenty 
days,  but  never  heard  him  utter  a  thoughtful  phrase.  He  was  a 
dry  narrator,  and  a  most  vain  man.  I  asked  him  one  day  to  let 
me  sketch  him,  as  he  was  a  very  patriarchal-looking  person. 
I  surprised  him  when  half  dressed  the  next  morning,  and  begged 
hirn  to  sit  still ;  but  he  would  not  until  he  had  made  a  careful 
toilette,  when  he  said,  "I've  done,  if  you  think  I  am  looking  well 
enough."  I  finished  my  sketch  in  twenty  minutes,  and,  after 
many  copies  had  been  asked  for,  had  it  lithographed.  I  wrote 
the  following  lines  under  it : — 

Though  Providence's  stern  decree 

Forever  closed  thy  mortal  eye, 
Her  own  is  watchful  over  thee, 

And  her  protection  ever  nigh. 

Thy  ways  are  safe  I    The  torrid  zone, 

Siberia's  snows  and  barrenness, 
All  climes  where'er  thou  stepst  alone, 

To  thee  are  harm — and  dangerless. 

Then  travel  on  until  that  bourne, 

Where  thou  wilt  reach  thy  journey's  end ; 

"Where  all  thy  vision  will  return, 
Aud  Heaven's  light  on  thee  descend. 

These  verses  gave  extraordinary  delight  to  all  the  English  in 
Trieste,  and  the  English  preacher  there  paid  rather  a  doubtful 
compliment,  by  saying,  "  I  did  not  give  you  credit  for  so  much 
religious  sense."  I  met  him  once  more,  seven  years  later,  but 
only  to  see  him  pass  by  me  with  rapid  step. 


HOPES  OF  A  VICE-CONSULSHIP.  473 

Another  odd  acquaintance,  who  also  sought  for  English  inter- 
course in  the  Hotel  Metternich,  was  a  Scotchman  named  Keith.  He 
had  travelled  through  Asia  Minor,  discovered  some  ancient  cities  and 
mines,  and  published  his  travels.  His  predecessor  Fellowes,  and 
other  travellers,  doubted  the  existence  of  these  mines,  since  they 
had  not  themselves  been  able  to  find  them.  Therefore  Keith 
resolved  on  another  voyage,  in  which  he  determined  to  daguer- 
reotype the  scenes.  He  was  now  returning  to  England  with  full 
and  incontestible  proofs  of  his  truthfulness ;  and  he  gloried  in  his 
anticipated  victory. 

After  completing  my  work  on  free  ports,  I  published  the  second 
volume  of  "  View  of  the  Commercial  World  in  1846,"  and  closed 
my  literary  career  in  Trieste  by  a  humorous  article  on  the  Dal- 
matian coast,  which  by  Freiherr  Von  Bruck's  desire  I  published  in 
the  Leipziger  Illustrirte  Zeitung  in  1846.  It  attracted  attention  to 
the  Lloyds'  steamers.  It  contained  a  sketch  of  a  good  natured 
wine-traveller,  who  when  he  read  it  exclaimed,  "  Only  that  con- 
founded Nolte  could  have  sketched  me  so  well." 

The  bread  won  by  literature  in  Trieste  was  very  uncertain.  The 
few  readers  in  Trieste  had  no  particular  taste  for  statistics  or 
national  economy.  To  have  attended  industriously  to  anything 
else  would  soon  have  used  up  what  means  I  possessed.  Mr.  Von 
Bruck  now  spoke  to  me  of  an  agency  in  London  for  Austrian 
commerce.  It  was  in  the  hands  of  Baron  Rothschild,  a  man 
who  cared  only  for  title,  and  who  wanted  to  establish  a  general 
consulate  office  in  London.  He  had  expressed  these  desires  in 
Vienna,  and  had  designated  me  as  a  proper  person  for  Vice  Con- 
sul. A  correspondence  with  Mr.  Moritz  Goldschmidt,  partner  and 
agent  of  the  Rothschilds  in  Vienna,  would  settle  the  matter.  1 
felt  sure  of  Baron  Von  Kiiebec's  help,  and  on  him  the  nomina- 
tion depended.  So  in  my  sixty-seventh  year  I  left  Trieste  for  the 
capital. 

Here  I  first  called  upon  Mr.  Goldschmidt,  where  I  was  well 
received,  but  learned  that  all  depended  upon  Herr  Von  Kuebeck. 
1  at  once  called  upon  him,  and  received  a  request  to  wait  upon 
him  the  day  after,  at  2  o'clock.  When  I  saw  him  he  received  me 
as  an  old  acquaintance,  told   me  of  the  condition  of  the  London 


474  DIPLOMATIC  PROMISES. 

consulate,  as  well  as  of  that  in  Paris,  and  said  that  a  vice  consulate 
was  to  be  formed  in  each  city.  That  four  candidates  would  be 
named  and  presented  to  him.  He  then  requested  me  to  arrange 
the  matter  with  the  Rothschilds,  get  my  name  inscribed,  and 
"  when  they  are  presented,"  said  he,  "  I  will  choose  yours." 

When  I  told  this  to  Mr.  Goldschmidt,  he  said  that  the  salary 
was  now  reckoned  at  £600 ;  but  he  would  know  better  after 
seeing  Mr.  Solomon  Rothschild  at  Paris.  He  would  give  me  a 
letter  to  Baron  James,  who  would  introduce  me  to  his  father-in- 
law,  Solomon.  After  eight  days'  delay  I  started  for  Stuttgard, 
via  Ischl,  Munich,  and  Augsburg.  Dr.  Gustav  Kolb,  editor  of  the 
Allgemeine  Zeitung,  was  my  companion  part  of  the  way,  and 
accompanied  me  to  visit  Mr.  Cotta  in  Stuttgard.  I  agreed  to 
become  the  regular  correspondent  of  these  gentlemen  from  Paris, 
where  they  had  ten  correspondents,  among  others,  Mr.  Mohl, — 
this  arrangement  being  made  in  case  I  should  miss  the  London 
appointment;  for  I  had  begun  to  distrust  my  fate,  and  to  tolerate 
misfortune.  But  a  good  price  was  offered  me  for  financial  letters, 
and  I  left  Stuttgard  and  went  by  Manheim,  Frankfort,  Cologne, 
and  Brussels  to  Paris,  where  I  saw  my  family  after  a  six  years' 
absence.  My  two  daughters  had  been  well  educated,  and  were 
now  pleasant  and  amiable  girls  with  robust  health,  such  as  their 
poor  mother  had  not  had  for  a  long  while.  I  soon  saw  that 
there  was  no  hope  of  the  London  position,  by  the  politely  man- 
aged delay  of  the  Rothschilds,  and  at  last  a  letter  from  Moritz 
Goldschmidt  informed  me  that  I  had  better  waste  no  more  time 
with  the  Rothschilds,  as  they  had  requested  that  some  imperial 
civil  officer  might  be  appointed,  and  that  it  was  therefore  beyond 
Baron  Von  Kuebec's  power  to  appoint  me. 

Such  are  diplomatic  promises,  but  Solomon  Rothschild  told 
me  that  my  name  headed  the  list  of  candidates  presented  to  Herr 
Von  Kiiebec.  By  this  time  I  saw  that  it  had  been  settled  to 
give  the  post  to  a  civil  officer,  if  one  could  be  found,  before  any- 
thing had  been  said  to  me.  But  he  was  not  found,  and  the  post 
was  vacant  for  five  years,  until  Von  Bruck's  successor,  Herr  Von 
Baumgarten,  gave  it  to  Mr.  Schwartz,  the  Austrian  secretary  of 
the  London  Crystal  Palace,  a  very  worthy  man.     Most  of  the 


AUSTRIAN  CONSULS-GENERAL.  475 

Austrian  consuls-general  in  the  Levant  are  very  clever  men,  as, 
for  instance,  Mr.  de  Laurie  in  Bucharest,  Dr.  Gode  in  Bayreuth, 
and  Mr.  Huber  in  Alexandria.  All  these  were  Austrian  civil 
officers,  and  therefore  did  not  possess  the  necessary  general  know- 
ledge of  the  commercial  world.  In  England  too,  a  consul  parti- 
cularly needs  a  knowledge  of  the  language,  a  very  rare  accomplish- 
ment in  an  Austrian  of  rank ;  for  I  once  heard  Count  Stadion,  at 
a  dinner  given  to  the  engineer,  Lieut.  Waghorn,  propose  his 
health,  and  make  a  speech  in  English  which  nobody  could  under- 
stand. This  the  more  astonished  me  from  the  fact,  that  the  count 
had  been  in  England  and  admired  it. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

PARIS,  HAMBURGH— VAIN  HOPE  IN  PARIS. 

Remarks  upon  the  condition  of  public  affairs  there  in  the  years  1847  and  1848 — 
False  policy  of  Louis  Philippe — Guizot — Negotiations  with  the  publishing 
house  of  Messrs.  Perthes,  Besser,  aud  Mauke  in  Hamburgh,  in  relation  to  a  re- 
vision of  William  Benecke's  work  on  tbe  "  System  of  Insurauce  and  Bottomry" 
— Another  visit  to  Hamburgh  in  1848 — The  February  Revolution  at  Paris 
— Its  consequences  in  Germany — Feverish  state  of  things  at  Hamburgh — 
The  Hamburgh  free-trade  paper  called  the  "  Deutscher  Freihafen" — After 
the  withdrawal  of  its  first  leading  editor,  the  management  of  the  concern 
falls  into  my  hands — The  sheet  christened  the  "  Deutsche  Handel's  Zei- 
tung"  (German  Commercial  Journal)  in  the  beginning  of  1849 — Dictatorial 
conduct  of  the  directing  committee  of  shareholders — Exhaustion  of  the 
small  capital  set  apart  for  the  support  of  free-trade  principles — The  paper 
dies — The  committee  set  their  faces  against  all  explanation  of  the  causes  of 
the  paper's  decease,  aud  step  in  violently — My  farewell  words  to  the 
readers  at  the  close  of  the  paper  are  despotically  suppressed  and  taken  out 
of  the  compositor's  hands — The  revision  of  W.  Benecke's  work  on  "  Insu 
ranee,"  and  the  completion  of  it  in  the  month  of  April,  1852. 

I  expected  to  better  my  circumstances  in  Paris  by  writing, 
but  was  disappointed,  and  so  half  of  1847  passed  away.  I  had 
hitherto  visited  my  family  in  Paris  but  seldom,  and  had  no  op- 
portunity of  hearing  popular  ideas  nor  public  sentiment.  But  now, 
after  a  residence  of  some  months,  I  began  to  understand  more 
than  appeared  in  the  journals.  I  had  passed  the  first  five  years 
of  Louis  Philippe's  reign  in  Paris,  and  the  other  ten  abroad,  so  that 
the  change  of  public  sentiment  came  suddenly  before  me.  Louis 
Philippe  owed  his  crown  to  a  mercantile  combination,  under  the 
direction  of  Lafayette ;  and  that  he  pleased  the  bourgeois  well 
enough,  and  the  nation  had  taken  him  as  they  would  anybody  else, 


GUIZOT.  477 

yet  he  had  no  hold  upon  the  national  affection.  He  based 
himself  only  on  his  goodness  as  a  father,  and  the  remarkable 
virtues  of  his  family.  But  he  soon  showed  that  he  had  no  in- 
terest at  heart  but  the  private  interests  of  his  family.  The  costly 
festivities  in  Paris,  and  the  search  for  kingly  alliances,  proved  his 
present  views,  and  the  hidden  conflict  between  the  bourgeoisie  and 
his  monarchical  principles  must  soon  leak  out.  As  the  princes 
became  popular,  they  lost  favor  with  him.  His  ideal  was  Louis 
XIV. ;  and  he  gave  as  his  reason  for  this,  that  the  less  indubitable 
the  authority,  the  easier  it  would  be  to  rule  the  people.  The 
venality  of  Teste,  his  minister,  and  the  therewith  connected  plans 
of  Cubieres  and  others,  were  well  known  to  him  ;  and  when  Teste 
was  exposed  by  his  colleagues,  Louis  Philippe  made  him  seal- 
bearer  and  grand  cross  of  the  legion  of  honor.  Any  person  in 
Paris  could  see  how  slight  was  the  tie  between  ruler  and  people. 
To  this  was  added  Guizot's  unpopularity.  This  man  so  praised 
abroad,  so  hated  at  home,  with  indubitable  first-rate  talent,  never 
could  win  public  confidence  nor  remove  suspicion ;  and  yet  be- 
lieved that  a  minister  must  be  useful  in  proportion  to  his  lack  of 
popularity.  In  such  a  state  of  affairs,  intrigues  were,  of  course, 
successful.  The  letters  found  in  the  king's  portfolio  from  De 
Joinville  and  D'Aumale,  prove  that  they  understood  the  state  of 
things,  and  had  vainly  endeavored  to  change  his  measures  with  re- 
ference to  the  banquets  and  other  assemblages.  Many  a  time 
have  I  said  to  friends,  that  if  the  king  allowed  his  ministers  to 
have  their  way,  he  was  playing  with  his  crown.  The  people  knew 
that  he  had  lost,  in  1847,  his  best  counsellor,  his  sister,  the  Prin- 
cess Adelaide,  and  had  now  no  guide  but  that  false  one  Guizot. 

Letters  from  Messrs.  Perthes,  Besser,  &  Mauke  called  me  back 
to  Hamburgh  in  February  of  the  next  year.  These  gentlemen 
had  long  wanted  to  publish  a  new  edition  of  William  Benecke's 
"  System  of  Assurance  and  Bottomry,"  which  should  show  the  pro- 
gress of  this  system  during  the  last  forty  years,  and  its  picsent 
position.  They  asked  me  to  point  out  the  best  man  in  Trieste  for 
this.  Now  the  best  men  in  Trieste  for  this  were  Italians,  and 
could  not  write  German.  I  told  them  so,  and  recommended  them 
to  ask  Mr.  C.   Regensdorif,  the  well   instructed  business  man  of 


478  THE  FEBRUARY  REVOLUTION  IN  PARIS. 

Messrs.  Reyer  &  Schlik.  His  answer  was  that  since  I  had  left 
Trieste,  there  was  no  one  left  worth  mentioning.  Therefore  com- 
menced the  correspondence  which  took  me  to  Hamburgh. 

The  changes  that  had  followed  the  great  conflagration  made  me 
a  stranger  to  everything  but  the  basin  of  the  Alster.  My  last 
visit  had  been  in  1830,  and  I  found  a  new  exchange,  but  in  it  no 
faces  of  my  youthful  friends,  but  plenty  of  antiquated  behind-the- 
age  people.  As  I  never  liked  these  in  my  youth,  I  cared  not  for 
their  acquaintance  now.  Forty-five  years  were  between  those 
days  and  these,  and  I  expected  to  see  some  trace  of  progress  in 
those  faces  ;  but  no  !  I  can  write  it  as  truth,  they  are  to-day  what 
they  ever  were. 

As  a  proof  of  what  I  could  do,  I  wrote  a  treatise  on  Bottomry, 
quite  departing  from  Benecke's  ideas,  and  simplifying  the  matter. 
This  work  greatly  pleased  one  high  exchange  authority,  and  dis- 
pleased another  less  instructed  ;  but  I  succeeded  at  last  in  explain- 
ing matters  to  him,  and  then  began  my  task. 

Scarcely  had  I  commenced  when  the  news  of  the  French  Revo 
lution,  of  February  24th,  reached  Hamburgh,  during  exchange 
hours,  on  the  27th.  It  was  unexpected  all  over  Europe ;  but  it 
fell  like  a  thunderbolt  on  Hamburgh.  Later  news  threw  some 
light  on  the  matter,  but  people  were  watching  the  shaking  of  the 
first  throne  in  Germany.  When  the  Berlin  revolution  of  March 
took  place,  and  was  followed  by  that  of  Vienna,  the  faces  of  the 
Hamburghers  waxed  very  sad,  and  every  man  of  property  looked 
about  sadly,  to  see  how  he  might  preserve  it.  When  Cassar  and 
king  knew  no  longer  wherein  their  safety  lay  ;  when  one  fled  from 
his  throne  and  capital,  and  another,  as  they  say,  lurked  for  days 
in  his  chamber,  how  could  the  Hamburgh  Senate,  like  the  walls 
of  Jericho,  not  fall  at  the  first  trumpet  blast,  and  make  promises 
that  they  never  could  keep.  The  so-called  leaders  of  the  people 
from  Wiirtemburg,  Hungary,  the  Rhine,  and  other  parts  of  Ger- 
many, came  to  Hamburgh,  and  required  the  Senate  to  promise 
what  they  called  an  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  people. 
Constitutionality  was  talked  about,  the  red  flag  hoisted,  and  Ham- 
burgh greatly  frightened.  At  this  time,  a  journal  belonging  to  the 
free-trade  class,  and  called  "  German  Free  Ports,"  which  had  been 


EDITORIAL  DIFFICULTIES.  479 

founded  six  months  before,  was  deserted  by  its  editor,  Dr.  Scherer, 
and  his  place  was  offered  to  me.  I  took  it  the  more  readily  that 
my  employers  in  the  "  Assurance  "  work  were  too  much  occupied 
with  politics  to  go  on  with  it. 

I  was  to  have  been  presented  to  my  collaborateurs  on  Monday, 
May  22,  but  this  was  put  off.  The  close  of  the  week  approached, 
and  as  the  paper  must  appear  on  Saturday,  I  started  with  direc- 
tions or  instructions,  and  got  out  the  No.  for  May  28th,  alone. 

Eleven  more  numbers  appeared  under  my  editorship.  The 
first  stone  of  stumbling  was  the  news  of  Radetzky's  victory  at 
Custozza,  of  the  probable  effect  of  which  on  Italy's  political  indepen- 
dence I  spoke  in  the  number  for  August  13.  1  uttered  sentiments 
natural  to  one  who  was  born  an  Italian,  and  who  had  adopted  the 
United  States,  and  learned  there  the  love  of  unchecked  liberty. 
But  Hamburghers  could  only  see  that  a  German  army  had  con- 
quered an  Italian  one,  and  over  this  they  rejoiced.  As  I  defended 
my  position,  it  produced  a  noise.  There  were  in  Hamburgh  plenty 
of  zealots  for  Prussia  and  its  king.  I  was  accused  of  positive  un- 
truthfulness in  many  of  my  statements,  particularly  the  cruelties 
of  General  Wrangel,  and  I  was  reduced  to  dismiss  my  Berlin  cor- 
respondent. But  I  could  not  get  another  without  going  to  Berlin, 
and  therefore  I  went.  There  I  found  that  all  that  he  had  written 
about  Wrangel  was  very  positively  true,  and  that  that  general  had 
forcibly  entered  and  searched  the  houses  of  merchants  Heil  in  the 
Leipzig  street,  Krebs  in  the  Jerusalem  street,  Burgher  Otto  at 
the  ship-yards,  Counsellor  of  Justice  Lindau,  and  Mr.  Hilden- 
dagen  under  the  Lindens,  and  that  he  had  destroyed  the  machinery 
in  the  printery  of  Mr.  Krause.  I  knew  many  friends  of  free  trade 
in  Berlin,  but  none  would  now  take  the  correspondentship,  and  1 
had  nothing  left  but  to  thank  the  former  correspondent,  T.  M.,  for 
what  he  had  done.  When  I  came  back,  I  simply  said  that  I  had 
engaged  a  good  correspondent,  and  when  the  new  letters  appeared 
people  were  delighted  with  them.  A  year  later,  I  informed  them 
that  the  new  correspondent  was  the  original  T.  M. 

The  idea  of  a  Red  Republic  filled  all  heads,  and  men  tried  to 
prove  its  existence.  Our  Frankfort  correspondent  was  suspected 
of  misrepresenting  matters.     I  told  their  committee  that  the  oor- 


480  RESIGNATION  OF  EDITORIAL  DIGNITY. 

respondent  was  my  predecessor,  Dr.  Scherer,  and  that  his  letters 
appeared  to  me  to  be  the  best  that  I  had  seen.  But  the  committee 
had  other  views,  and  I  was  required  on  June  2,  1849,  to  promise 
that  no  further  letters  should  be  received  from  Dr.  Scherer ;  that 
from  the  beginning  of  the  third  quarter  no  more  political  corres- 
pondence should  appear,  and  that  the  Berlin,  Frankfort,  and  other 
correspondents,  should  be  notified  by  me  to  cease ;  and  that  in- 
stead of  correspondence  the  leading  article  should  be  a  weekly 
review  of  politics  and  news. 

I  was  astonished  at  this,  that  a  committee  of  merchants  should 
thus  interfere  with  an  editor's  business.  But  the  paper  was  gov- 
erned by  a  committee  consisting  of  the  editor  and  four  merchants. 
The  secret  of  the  whole  difficulty  probably  was  that  I,  as  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  was  a  republican,  and  they  knew  no  differ- 
ence between  the  American  and  the  Red  Republicans. 

Finally,  for  want  of  means  and  subscribers,  I  laid  down  my 
editorial  dignity  on  the  29th  September,  1849.  I  had  written  a 
farewell  article,  which  was  at  the  printer's.  A  member  of  the 
committee  heard  of  it,  went  to  the  office,  and  ordered  it  to  be  left 
out.     In  the  last  number  I  read  as  follows : 

"  Although  to-day's  is  the  last  number  of  the  German  Commer- 
cial Journal,  yet  the  desire  of  furthering  free  trade  by  means  of 
the  press  is  not  resigned,  and  there  will  shortly  appear  a  weekly 
paper  called  the  '  Borsenhalle  (Exchange)  Times,'  in  which  the 
reader  will  find  all  necessary  information  on  the  views  and  prin- 
ciples of  the  friends  of  free  frade." 

This  paper,  edited  by  Carl  Roback,  of  Berlin,  was  found  not  to 
pay,  and  was  abandoned  after  three  months'  publication. 

During  my  editorship,  I  was  often  told  to  attend  to.  the 
views  of  the  "  Hamburgh  Exchange,"  but  never  could  find  out 
where  they  were  expressed.  Every  man  had  his  own  ideas; 
and  the  political  ideas  of  merchants  are  of  but  little  value,  as  they 
result  not  from  a  cosmopolitan  way  of  thinking,  but  simply  from 
the  consideration  of  private  interests,  and  it  is  very  seldom  that 
a  merchant's  opinions  are  founded  upon  the  general  well  being  of 
the  mass. 

I  now  returned  to  my  "  System  of  Assurance  and  Bottomry  ;" 


"FINIS."  481 

begun  on  October  2,  1849,  given  up  until  January,  1852,  and 
then  finished  in  three  months.  I  had  begun  this  work  in  my 
seventieth  year,  and  finished  it  in  my  seventy-third.  Its  recep- 
tion by  the  public  has  proven  its  usefulness,  and  therefore  I  may 
be  allowed  here  to  repeat  the  closing  words : 

"  My  greatest  desire  in  publishing  a  work,  the  difficulties  of 
which  no  man  can  comprehend,  is  to  free  myself  from  all  illusions 
about  my  own  force,  and  to  prove  that  I  have  not  over  estimated 
my  capabilities.  If  it  be  true,  I  shall  enjoy  the  pleasing  con- 
sciousness that  my  life,  so  full  of  action,  has  left  behind  it  some 
traces  of  usefulness." 

The  close  of  my  life  is  probably  not  far  off,  and  in  writing  the 
last  lines  of  this  volume  I  would  say  a  word  about  these  sketches 
from  life.  For  the  great  mass  of  readers  they  will  possess  but 
little  interest,  but  for  those  who  have  known  me,  this  work  may 
awaken  a  fresh  interest  in  the  past,  nor  will  it  be  unacceptable  to 
them  to  walk  with  me  along  that  varied  way  which  I  have  tra- 
velled for  so  many  years.  This  I  deemed  their  due  and  mine, 
and  for  it  I  hope  that  this  work  will  not  be  quite  overlooked. 

VINCENT  NOLTE. 
Hamburgh,  May,  1853. 


THE     END. 


21 


APPENDIX. 


The  reader  must  bear  in  mind  that  this  work  is  a  translation,  and  that  the 
free  use  of  personalities  is  indulged  in  by  a  foreigner,  and  a  man  who  has 
evidently  formed  hasty  conclusions. 

The  financial  allusions  to  Edward  Livingston  and  Mr.  Davezac  are  upon 
matters  not  thoroughly  understood  by  Mr.  Nolte.  They  belong  to  the  political 
animosities  of  the  past,  and  would  have  been  suppressed  were  it  not  considered 
that  the  duty  of  a  translator  is  faithfulness  to  his  text. 

The  allusions  to  ^General  Scott's  appearance  in  Paris,  after  the  battle  of 
Waterloo  (page  &&),  were  no  doubt  occasioned  by  ill-feeling  for  some  fancied 
slight,  growing  out  of  the  circumstances  described  below — which  has  been  fur- 
nished, from  recollection,  by  a  gentleman  who  was  in  Paris  at  the  time,  and 
was  personally  cognizant  of  what  he  states. 

General  Scott,  soon  after  the  battle  of  "Waterloo,  was  in  Paris:  France, 
then  occupied  by  more  than  half  a  million  of  hostile  troops,  did  not  be- 
long to  Frenchmen.  Some  of  the  British  regiments  which  had  been  with 
General  Ross  and  Admiral  Cockburn,  at  Washington,  were  now  quartered 
in  Paris,  and,  as  a  pleasant  conceit,  got  up  a  dinner  in  that  capital,  to  cele- 
brate the  anniversary  of  the  burning  of  the  national  buildings  [civil],  the 
archives  and  library,  in  the  capital  of  another  hemisphere.  Hundreds  of 
other  British  officers,  of  high  rank,  were  present,  as  approving  guests.  This 
continued  want  of  shame  on  the  part  of  the  Vandals,  fired  General  S. 
with  indignation,  and  he  employed  months  in  arranging  a  retaliatory  cele- 
bration. Receiving  the  hearty  support  of  the  American  officers,  and  many 
other  citizens,  then  in  Paris — Mr.  Jackson,  Charge  dAffaires ;  Colonels  Dray- 
ton, M'Ree,  Thayer  and  Archer;  his  aid-de-camp,  Major  Mercer,  his  com- 
panion, H.  Leathenworth,  Esquire,  of  New  York,  <fcc.  <fec.  &c.  &c. — General  S., 
passing  by  the  war  events  in  which  he  himself  had  participated,  fixed  upon  the 
8th  of  January — the  first  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans — when 
some  ninety  Americans  met,  to  give  vent  to  their  feelings.  It  is  possible  that 
Mr.  Nolte,  as  a  resident  of  New  Orleans,  may  have  been  called  upon  to  sub- 
scribe ;  but  if  not,  he,  certainly,  being  on  the  spot,  learned  the  whole  history 
of  this  dinner.  General  S.  presided.  The  leading  or  retaliatory  toast,  was,  of 
course,  General  Jackson  and  his  glorious  defence  of  New  Orleans!  given  by 
Scott  with  warmth,  and  all  the  circumstances  which  enhanced  the  victory  and 


484  APPENDIX. 

deepened  the  shame  of  the  defeated ;  together  with  a  severe  animadversion  on 
the  recent  celebration  of  the  barbarian  acts  perpetrated  at  Washington. 
Nothing  was  neglected  that  could  give  publicity  and  eclat  to  the  retaliation, 
The  elaborate  preparations  were  mentioned  in  the  highest  French,  Russian,  and 
German  circles,  with  which  Gen.  Scott  and  his  American  friends  were  on  the 
most  amicable  terms.  The  Hotel  Robert  was  the  place  selected  for  meeting, 
where  the  allied  sovereigns,  when  in  Paris,  had  habitually  dined,  and  where  the 
elite  of  the  British  empire  were  daily  to  be  seen,  in  January,  1816 — (Parliament 
met  a  month  later) — Lord  Hill's  head-quarters,  with  a  battalion  of  household 
troops,  was  within  half  pistol  shot ;  all  the  American  officers  were  in  full  cos- 
tume, <fcc.  <fec.  (fee.  <fec.  General  S.  drew  up  a  full  account  of  the  dinner,  which 
The  Constitutionel,  though  a  liberal  paper,  did  not  dare  to  publish  (being  under 
censorship)  till  the  name  of  Sir  Edward  Pakenham  (he  being  the  brother-in- 
law  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington)  was  expunged,  as  well  as  the  relative  num- 
bers engaged  at  New  Orleans — because  of  the  great  excess  on  the  British  side. 
Gen.  S.,  however,  at  the  expense  of  some  guineas,  caused  the  full  account  to  be 
published,  as  an  advertisement,  in  one  of  the  London  journals.  Such,  no  doubt, 
were  the  grounds  of  Mr.  Nolte's  sneers  at  the  American  major  general  (low 
rank  certainly),  in  a  crowd  of  field  marshals,  full  generals,  and  lieutenant  gen- 
erals— many  of  whom,  nevertheless,  stood  towards  him  as  attentive  friends. 


J.  S.  REDFIELD, 

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Or,  Life  at  a  Trade.    By  Day  Kellogg  Lee.    One  vol.,  12mo; 
price  $1.00. 

"  He  is  a  powerful  and  graphic  writer,  and  from  what  we  have  seen  in  the  pages  of 
the  '  Master  Builder,'  it  is  a  romance  of  excellent  aim  and  success." — State  Register. 

"  The  '  Master  Builder*  is  the  master  production.  It  is  romance  into  which  is  instilled 
the  realities  of  life ;  and  incentives  are  put  forth  to  noble  exertion  and  virtue.  The 
story  is  pleasing— almost  fascinating ;  the  moral  is  pure  and  undefiled." — Daily  Times. 

"  Its  descriptions  are,  many  of  them,  strikingly  beautiful ;  commingling  in  good  pro- 
portions,  the  witty,  the  grotesque,  the  pathetic,  and  the  heroic.  It  may  be  read  with 
profit  as  well  as  pleasure." — Argus. 

"  The  work  before  us  will  commend  itself  to  the  masses,  depicting  as  it  does  mosf 
graphically  the  struggles  and  privations  which  await  the  unknown  and  uncared-foi 
Mechanic  in  his  journey  through  life.  It  is  what  might  be  called  a  romance,  but  not  of 
love,  jealousy,  and  revenge  order." — Lockport  Courier. 

1  The  whole  scheme  of  the  story  is  well  worked  up  and  very  instructive."— Albany 


A 


MERRIMAC; 

Or,  Life  at  the  Loom.     By  Day  Kellogg  Lee.     One  vol.,  12mo ; 
price  $1.00. 

"  A  new  volume  of  the  series  of  popular  stories  which  have  already  gained  a  well- 
deserved  reputation  for  the  author.  As  a  picture  of  an  important  and  unique  phase  of 
New  England  life,  the  work  is  very  interesting,  and  can  scarcely  fail  of  popularity  among 
the  million."— Harper's  Magazine. 

"  The  work  is  extremely  well  written.  It  is  as  interesting  as  a  novel,  while  it  is  natu- 
ral as  every-day  life." — Boston  Traveller. 

*  Merrimac  is  a  story  which,  by  its  simple  pathos,  and  truthfulness  to  nature,  will 
touch  the  heart  of  every  reader.  It  is  free  from  the  least  tinge  of  that  odious  stilted 
style  of  thought  and  diction  characteristic  of  the  majority  of  the  novels  with  which  the 
reading  public  are  deluged." — N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 

"  Another  plain,  straightforward,  absorbing  work  from  a  pen  which  before  has  added 
riches  to  our  literature,  and  honor  to  him  who  wielded  it."— Buffalo  Express. 

"  It  is  written  in  a  genial  spirit  and  abounds  in  humor."— N.  Y.  Courier  and  Enquirer. 


AN  XKITIAL  «H>  ^  «  ««B 

w,uu  BE  ASSESS^   FOR    rA,UUREHE  ^^ 
THIS    BOOK    ON   THE    °AJE  QN  THE  FOURTH 

^l-TO     -00500NENTHE    SEVENTH     «V 
OVERDUE. 


NOV  1 8  1982 


-DEU0T198B 


_AUG-0±-t991 h 


YB  21583 


915414 

Ntfas 


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